The Art of Manipulation
by youdude
Summary: After Revelations...Reid has no drug problems. But JJ can't seem to forgive herself, or forgive Morgan... No romance as of now, and there is a case. *Was 'The Art of Profiling'*
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters**

**A/N: So this is my first CM fanfic! It'll probably be JJ/Morgan. Reviews are appreciated!**

**XXX**

_"I am so sorry..." JJ wrapped her arms around Reid, and in that hug, although no-one else but Hotch saw, it was Reid who supported JJ. She was trembling like a leaf._

_"It's not your fault."_

_He understood at once._

_He knew._

_And he reassured her._

_She let him go- or rather, he let her go- and she wiped a stray tear away as she met Morgan's eyes. He nodded once, signalling that she had his forgiveness._

_But it was never his to give in the first place._

**XXX**

"Hey, look who it is!" Prentiss grinned as Reid entered the office.

"Hey, kid, glad to see you're alive." Morgan nodded to him, unwilling to show exactly how glad he was. But Reid knew anyway- hell, they all knew. And that was what mattered.

Reid looked up, getting that familiar look in his eyes. "It's highly unlikely that I would have suffered any kind of injury or near-death experience between the last time you saw me- which I believe was yesterday- and this morning. Although now that you mention it, a recent study showed that-"

"Can it, hotstuff." Garcia flicked Reid's hair as she walked past. "I'm happy you're back, but I could do without the 24/7 babbling."

Morgan feigned hurt. "I thought I was your hotstuff?"

"Oh no, hotstuff doesn't even begin to begin to describe you, my delectably scintillating lump of chocolate."

"Chocolate? He's hotstuff, and I'm chocolate?"

"Hey, lay off the chocolate!" Emily ordered.

Garcia smirked. "Well, Derek Morgan, What if I told you I never particularly enjoyed hot food?"

"Uh, Morgan?" Reid interrupted the flirting.

"Yeah?"

"Where's JJ? Why isn't she here?"

"Conference room in ten." JJ smiled at Reid before exiting just as quickly as she had arrived, not making eye contact with any of them.

Emily frowned. "Is it just me, or was that completely out of character? She seemed like she was hiding something..."

Garcia rubbed her hands together. "Oh, it's not just you. Our JJ's got something she doesn't want us to know..."

"...And you're gonna know what that something is by tonight," Prentiss finished.

"Exacly."

They all trailed into the conference room, where JJ was waiting patiently with her clicker. They each grabbed one of the files she handed to them, greeted Hotch and Rossi, and sat down expectantly.

"We were asked to take this case by NYPD," JJ started, smiling slightly at the astonished looks. "This unsub is unique- he keeps his victims and-"

"Woah there, girl." Morgan had flipped through the file, and was now staring incredulously at its pages. "These murders...they happened over the course of six months! Why the hell did it take them so long to call us?"

"Because he's only killed five victims in that time frame. NYPD thought they could handle it so they waited, but it's been six months and as they haven't got any leads, they called us in." JJ didn't meet Morgan's eyes, and quickly started the presentation.

"New York, obviously. The victims were all found in public places," bodies popped up on the screen, "and they were all sexually assaulted. All women with blonde hair,  
all between the ages of 30 and 35, all fairly attractive with good jobs. Most of their clothes were ripped and-"

"So we know he's a male," Hotch interrupted, studying the thumbnails displayed on the screen. "They were all in good jobs you said?"

JJ nodded. "Yes. And the unsub-"

"JJ, girl," Morgan cut in. "I get that it's your job to choose cases and you pick carefully; it's hard, I get it. But this guy killed five people in six months! Aren't there plenty of other cases where seven to eight people are being killed a week? Aren't we more needed there?" Morgan asked.

Fed up and inappropriately amused, JJ let out a small humourless chuckle.

"You're laughing." Hotch's words were a statement. "JJ, do you feel alright to work? You can have this case off, if you want. Of course," a sidelong glance at Morgan, "we will take the case."

She waved him off. "No, I'm fine. Just, I've been trying to tell you what makes this case important but two certain somebodies," she looked pointedly at Hotch and Morgan, "won't let me finish."

Hotch leaned back. "Point taken. Continue."

JJ nodded. "Okay, so the unsub, who we've established is male," another pointed look at Hotch, "keeps his victims for three weeks. He follows a monthly cycle:  
on the first of the month, he abducts a victim while they're asleep using chloroform. After keeping the victim for three weeks, he drops the body at a public place in the middle of the night, and spends the rest of the month searching for new potential victims. The main thing is that during the three weeks-"

"So why only five victims in six months?" Reid. JJ fought the urge to roll her eyes at him.

"I don't know, shall I ask him for you?"

"JJ..." Hotch said warningly.

"I'm sorry. But will you please let me finish," she begged. At the silence, she went on, "He sends a live feed of whatever he does to the police. He...he tortures them...rapes them repeatedly and taunts them. From what I could see, he-"

"-'See'? You've seen the videos?" Emily asked.

JJ sighed. "Yes. Yes, I've seen the videos. Well, two of them anyway. It was necessary to ensure that I was picking the right case," she said, glaring at Morgan.

Hotch nodded, thinking the reason for JJ's behaviour was that the empathetic and compassionate media liason had been forced to sit through videos of women being tortured. "Names? Ages? Workplaces?"

"All had jobs which required some leadership skills. Allie Daniels, 32, was the manager of a shop downtown; Alice Young, 35 was a financial advisor; Felicity Chapman, 33, worked as a doctor in an independent office; Jenna Tanner and Mary Holden both held jobs at banks in which they were in a position of authority. Tanner was 30, Holden was 32," JJ reeled off the names and ages swiftly.

"Finished?" Hotch asked her softly. JJ smiled slightly.

"Almost. He also uploads the videos of the tortures and murders to a chatroom-type website, but only after the murder has taken place. The police get a live feed. Currently, the site has 67 members."

There was a collective gasp. "Seriously?" Morgan asked. JJ didn't answer him, instead going over to her seat.

"Well," Reid started, "obviously this unsub isn't act-focused. For them, it's all about the act of murder; their victims usually die a quick death. This unsub is using a slow and torturous way of killing his victims, so he's process-focused. And also, stands to reason that he's a sadist."

"No, I don't think so..." JJ said slowly. They all turned to look at her, not used to her giving input. She flushed. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's perfectly alright," Rossi reassured her.

"Go on..." Hotch prompted.

JJ paused, gathering her thoughts. "Well, if he's a sadist, wouldn't he want to cause as much pain as possible? To anyone? If I wanted to cause pain, I'd send the videos to the victims' families, which he didn't do. And also, he'd wake up the person first, so he could relish the fear in their eyes as he put the chloroform over their mouths."

It didn't go unnoticed by the team of profilers that JJ was unable to think of herself as a person who tortured others for more than a few seconds. The thought made the corners of Hotch's mouth turn up slightly. Jennifer Jareau would never be anything but a kind soul.

JJ continued speaking. "Um, and he...in the videos, he doesn't actually start hurting them until the live feed is set up. The victim is unscathed until then. The cops said there's a day between the abduction and the time the live video is set up, and if he was truly sadistic, wouldn't he hurt the victim in that time too?" She ducked her head down, unsure of herself.

"She's right," Reid said.

"So if he's not sadistic, and he's torturing women for himself... that could mean that he wants an audience," Morgan said.

"Or he could feel unadmired and insignificant in his life, so he sets up the website and the live feed in some twisted attempt to gain 'fans'. He wants to be feared, and seen as important, to make up for how unimportant and overlooked he feels in his job or home life," Prentiss said.

"Great. Meet at the jet in ten; we can carry on from there," Hotch said, stopping JJ as the rest of the team filed out. She raised an eyebrow at him. "JJ, are you feeling alright? This is our first day back from the Hankel case, and you've been unusually short-tempered, especially with Morgan…"

She shifted uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze. "I'm fine. Really. Just those videos...they got to me..." She attempted a weak smile, and he accepted it, walking with her to the jet.

And it was true.

The videos had affected her.

But they weren't why she was short-tempered with Morgan.

Or why she felt miserable as she boarded the jet.

Or why she couldn't look Reid or Morgan in the eye.

Or why she had that horrible gut feeling that everything was not going to be alright.


	2. Evasion

The rest of the team was already on the jet by the time JJ and Hotch climbed in. JJ groaned internally when she saw the way they were sitting: Rossi was stretched out next to Reid, who was sitting opposite Emily, and Morgan was by himself two seats down. She'd be forced to sit next to Emily, or opposite Morgan.

"I'll take-" she started, wanting to say that she'd sit by Emily, but Hotch beat her to it.

"JJ, you sit by Morgan," he said with a tone of finality. "I want you to tell him everything about the videos. I've seen them, so I'll brief the other three here." She sensed his unspoken message: Clear things up with Morgan, _now_, and she nodded reluctantly.

"Sure." _Damn those profilers_, she thought, dumping her file moodily on the table between them as she sat down. Morgan, who was flipping through the case file, didn't notice her.

For a few minutes, she watched his expressions as he skimmed through the pictures of the bodies and a few screencaps from the videos- they ranged from astonishment to disgust. Eventually, he looked up.

"Anything you can tell me about the videos?"

She shook her head. "I already told you everything."

"Come on, JJ, don't give me that. I know you're pissed at me for what I said in there, but you know I didn't mean it. I have to make sure we're choosing the right cases, you know?"

He still didn't get it. He still didn't realize that what he said had an impact on everyone else. So what if he had to make sure they were choosing the right cases? That was her job! Morgan didn't know when to stop talking...her mind took her back to the mean words he had said in Hankel's kitchen. And they weren't just _wrong_, they were mean- bordering on cruel.

"Morgan," she replied through gritted teeth, struggling to keep her media face on, "I told you everything. Now, if you want me to go into details of the torture, fine. If not, I'd like to get some rest." She leaned back into her seat, starting to close her eyes, pretending not to notice Morgan's bewildered look.

"Sorry, JJ." Prentiss turned around from her seat, and JJ realized with a sinking feeling that she must have heard the entire conversation. "Hotch wants to go over some things."

"Alright, so what do we have?" Hotch asked expectantly, starting the spitballing. JJ got up to stand near them. She loved this part, loved watching how the team worked off of each other.

"Well, he's organized," Morgan started. "Planned well in advance, and no traces of DNA or fingerprints at any of the dump sites."

"And obviously he's process-focused," Prentiss added. "For them, it's all about the doing. Act-focused killers are all about the act of murder itself. It's quick. This isn't."

"As JJ said," Reid gave her a small smile, making her look down, "He's not sadistic. Actually he is, to a point- he takes pride in watching his victim suffer, but he's not a typical sexual sadist in that he likes to see them suffer to up his own power, not to enjoy his pain."

"A hedonist?" Emily threw in, wondering out loud.

"Hedonists...lust, thrill or gain," Rossi mused. "Well, he has nothing to gain from the murders, and I don't think he derives a thrill from avoiding capture or from the act of murder itself. I'd say it's more about power."

"Good." Hotch agreed. "He's not a typical sexual sadist; for him it's about the power."

"Power/control killers like John Wayne Gacy like to exert their power over their victims. He has to be in control all the time, and most likely he's not appreciated in his job, or feels he isn't," Reid spewed, most likely copied word for word from a book he'd read. "Many power/control killers sexually abuse their victims- they're similar to sadistic thrill killers, except that causing pain and suffering, or even lust, is not the primary motive for the rape; controlling and dominating the victim is. He probably seduces and manipulates the victims to make him feel powerful even before the actual torture or murder begins."

"That's good for now," Hotch said. "When we land, I want Dave and Morgan to go check out the dump sites. Reid, work on the geographical profile and victomology with Prentiss. JJ, evaluate the media situation- find out what they know, what they're running. We'll probably need to control what they're putting out. Once you're done, come talk to the victims' families with me, or join Reid and Prentiss. This guy is highly intelligent and extremely manipulative. I want to hit the ground running on this one."

"Sure."

"Okay."

"Uh, hold on," JJ said as she checked her beeping phone, "Detective Cooper says he's sending a car to pick us up from the airport and take us straight to the hotel so we don't have to lug our suitcases around for the entire day."

"That's nice of him," Emily said with a grin. "Too bad the heaviest of our bags only weighs about 10 pounds."

Morgan looked over to JJ. "Tell him thanks but no thanks."

"I don't think that's a good idea..." she said slowly. "I talked to him, and he's the...the _sensitive _type, that'll think we're purposefully refusing to spite him. Think Chicago PD."

"No," Hotch decided, remembering a particularly difficult case- difficult because the lead detective was convinced they were out to sabotage his career and make him look stupid, not because the unsub was hard to capture. "We don't want that again. Thank him profusely and accept. One stop won't kill us, and it can hardly hurt to get rid of the bags.

When they landed, they were ushered into two black SUVs. JJ was careful to avoid getting into the same car as Morgan or Reid, not wanting to be reminded of what had happened.

The hotel was large and grand. It was completely different to the smaller, cosier hotels JJ usually picked for them, but nice all the same. Rossi strolled up to the reception desk.

"I believe we have a reservation by Detective Cooper for the BAU."

The clerk smiled at him. "You do. Rooms 112, 114, 116 and 118; here are the keys. 112 and 114 are doubles, and the other two are singles. Breakfast is served from seven to ten, and lunch starts at noon."

"Thank you." He took the keys.

"My pleasure. Enjoy your stay."

Rossi took the keys back to where the rest of the team were standing. "So it's four rooms."

"I call my own room!" JJ spoke up immediately, shooting Emily a teasing look. Half of her was joking to mess with the guys, but the other half was completely serious and _really _didn't want to have to share with any observant profiler.

"Reid and I will share," Morgan said. After catching the key Rossi tossed at him, he crossed his arms and sat on the arm of a couch, waiting to see how the room arrangements worked out.

"Ladies," Rossi laughed a fake laugh. "Ladies. We all know you're joking. Here's your key." He attempted to pass Emily a key, but she sidestepped out of the way.

"No, Rossi, not this time. I happen to be completely serious, actually." Prentiss eyed him thoughtfully. "Although, we would be willing to make a deal: we'll take the room, if dinner's on you."

"Why me? Hotch doesn't want to share either."

"Oh no, Dave, I'd be happy to share," Hotch lied smoothly.

"Oh? Well, I thought you'd be uncomfortable. That's alright then, girls, we'll share." Rossi called his bluff, smirking as Hotch paled.

"Fine," he huffed, deciding to pick JJ, who was known for her tiny appetite. "You treat Emily, I'll handle JJ. Just give me my key." He snatched 116 from Rossi's hand.

JJ smirked at him, turning to Emily and announcing, "I feel like lobster."

Emily grinned, leading the way to their room. It was nice- two single beds in the middle of the room as well as a sofa and a flat screen TV. She flopped onto the nearest bed, sighing as her muscles relaxed.

JJ laughed at her as she dumped her own bag on her bed. "Come on, this was just a pit stop. We still have to go." She was desperate to leave the room before Emily started asking any awkward questions.

"Alright. But Jayje..." _Here we go_, JJ thought, "Is everything okay with you and Derek?"

"Yeah, we're fine." She brushed it off.

Emily looked sceptical, but didn't comment as they joined the rest of the team in the lobby and filed into the cars.

She wasn't surprised when her cell phone beeped loudly, signalling new message from 'Det. Cooper NY'. "Media all over this case. They know you're coming. Madhouse outside station and crime scene. Where are you?" she read aloud.

Hotch, who was in the front seat of her SUV, turned around. "In that case, JJ I'll need you to stay at the station with Reid and Prentiss. You'll need to give a statement- we're here, we'll do our best, there'll be a press conference, the usual. They are not to have any extra information about the case."

"Yes sir," she replied as she texted the detective back to let him know they were on their way. She highly doubted the media was a 'madhouse' outside the station, or at least, it wouldn't be something she hadn't dealt with before. She was proven wrong, however, when the car pulled up and a frenzied circus of reporters and TV crews surrounded the car, making it almost impossible to get out. "Woah."

"JJ, do your thing," Emily said, smiling at her whilst nervously eyeing the reporters. JJ took a deep breath and stepped out of the vehicle, leading the cameramen and journalists to a corner so the others could leave their cars without being mobbed. She narrowly avoided tripping over various pieces of equipment several times.

"Good morning, I'm Agent Jareau with the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit." She introduced herself as she slyly led them all over to a corner, allowing the team to sneak into the building. "As you know, we are here to assist the local authorities in finding this man by providing input whenever possible. We'll be working closely with Detective Cooper from the NYPD, who is the lead detective on this case."

The questions poured in.

"What measures are you going to take to ensure no one else is taken?"

"Are you going to be taking over the case?"

"Do you have any comment on Detective Cooper's approach to the case so far?"

"Why did it take so long for the FBI to get involved?"

"Do you blame NYPD for the delay in calling you?"

She struggled to answer all the questions evasively- evasion was the key to success. "We will be holding a press conference in the near future to warn others and tell them what steps they should take to protect themselves, and also to provide a basic description of the man. We are _not _taking over the case; we are here to work _with _NYPD and assist them in any way we can. Thank you," she cut in as every person opened their mouth to ask another question. "That'll be all for now. Please leave the station; it's blocking officers' access. Thank you." She ran a hand through her hair as she stepped into the cool air conditioned police station and smiled wryly at the team. "We're going to have to give them something soon."

A stout, balding man hurried up to them, obviously stressed. "Ah, you're here." He held out his hand. "Finn Cooper. I assume you're the FBI?"

"Yes, Jennifer Jareau, we spoke on the phone?" He shook her hand, a small smile gracing his face before it settled back into his tired frown. "These are agents Hotchner, Rossi, Prentiss, Morgan and Dr. Reid."

"So, I don't know how this works, exactly, but you'll be giving a profile?" Det. Cooper asked, looking uncomfortable. A well-meaing man at heart, he knew he needed experts to help with this case, but he still wished he didn't need to call in the FBI.

"The quicker we get the profile out, the better." Hotch dismissed the team with a wave of his hand. "Let's go."


	3. Flattery

**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of the characters except Finn Cooper (but you can have him if you want, even though I love him!)**

**XXX**

At the station, Detective Cooper had everything set out for them. Walking through the huge bright, open room, he began to reel off in his Southern accent what they could tell was a well-practiced introduction.

"So we've got desks and offices along here with a TV, and the interrogation rooms are just through there." He pointed to few doors at the end of the station. "And the case files you asked for have been brought in. Coffee machine's just down there. Now _here's_ where you'll be setting up." He led them into a conference room with a huge table in the center, not unlike their conference room in Quantico. "So you got your case files, coffee, interrogation rooms, whiteboard at the end, and the family members'll be coming in shortly. Standard issue whiteboard, by the way. We don't have any of the fancy touch screen whiteboards you do."

"Thank you," Hotch said, looking him in the eye. "That's fine. We appreciate you getting everything ready at such short notice; I see you did it all yourself. It's not often we have everything perfectly laid out for us. It makes our job much easier."

JJ recognized what he was doing, a technique she referred to as 'flattery-gets-you-everywhere', and one that she used often herself. She grinned as the detective smiled, relaxing.

"Well now, thank you, agent. Now, if you want to set up any equipment, I'll just have a talk with your media liason here. Agent Jareau, if you would follow me?"

She cocked an eyebrow at Hotch, but followed the detective into a small backroom. "Yes?"

"We all figured, you being the media liason and all, your job's to keep things running smoothly..." He was wringing his hands together, a classic sign of nervousness.

"It is," she agreed, confused.

"Well now, I don't mean to undermine any of your agents," he smiled at her, "them thinking I'm so easy to work with and all."

She almost laughed, realizing that he was much smarter than they gave him credit for. "Yes, they can be a little full of themselves."

He scoffed. "Think I don't recognize flattery when I see it? Your agent Hotchner's trying pretty hard to avoid stepping on my toes. Not that I mind." He cleared his throat. "Well, as I was saying, I'd rather not offend any of them, but one of my officers has known two of the couples for years, and I think he'd feel better if you, the other lady and that doctor conducted the interviews with the family."

"Reid? And Emily and me? Why us?" she asked, completely befuddled.

"See, I just met the parents, and they're pretty torn up about what's happened. Understandably, of course. Even so, they can be a right nasty bunch, especially the men, the whole alpha-male type, you know?" She nodded, seeing what he was getting at. "They're powerful people-the Chapmans own a chain of hotels and Tanner's a lawyer- and we don't want any blow-ups with your agents if the fathers get a little accusing. So we'd rather you had a word with your agents and let them know in a polite way." When he finished, he eyed her, judging her reaction.

JJ let out the breath she was holding. "You had me worried for a minute there! Don't worry, 'my' agents won't care who does the interviews." She smiled wryly. "It was only going to be us anyways." She paused for a second. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you have a southern accent?"

"Grew up in the south of Arizona, agent." He winked at her. "You won't find anyone who can handle a rifle better than I can."

She laughed despite herself, finding that she was enjoying his drawling accent. "I'm sure I won't. Thank you, detective."

Exiting the room, she almost ran into Morgan, Rossi and the rest of the team, who were waiting suspiciously at the door. Detective Cooper nodded at them and walked past, having been blessed with the ability of not having to answer any of their questions. JJ, unfortunately, did not have that luxury.

"Don't worry; he didn't kill me."

Hotch frowned. "What did he want? We can't have any complications on this case- it's difficult enough as it is."

Seeing that the officers were interestedly observing them, not even bothering to hide their gawking, she pushed past the team, and they followed her into the conference room, each of them grabbing files and various items along the way. Strangely enough, every single one of them ended up with a cup of coffee when they entered the room.

JJ dumped her jacket on a chair. "Relax. He was freaking out because he thought you'd get offended over something trivial. He's a sweetheart."

Morgan puckered his lips. "Ooh, a sweetheart? JJ's got a lover-boy!"

She huffed, smacking him with the file in her hand. "No, I don't! He's just nice, that's it. And you're all _my _agents now, according to him," she added, causing Prentiss and Reid to laugh at Morgan's outraged expression. "By the way, Hotch, he saw right through your piteous attempt at flattery earlier. He's much smarter than you think."

"Good thing too, with this case," Prentiss said dryly, her eyes raking over the pictures and files spread out on the table.

"Get to work," Hotch ordered, pulling them all back to what was important. "We don't have much time."

Morgan and Rossi left to go examine the homes just as the victims' families entered, the women lagging nervously behind the men, who were strutting in confidently.

"I'll talk to them-" Hotch started, only to be cut off by JJ.

"No can do; Detective said he'd rather it was just us."

Hotch sighed, taking a seat at the conference table. "The three of you talk to the parents while I work on the geographical profile. Send Reid in once you're done."

JJ followed Prentiss and Reid out to talk to the parents. There were only two couples, and one young man. Prentiss and Reid wordlessly let her introduce them as the two older men's eyes raked over her and Prentiss appreciatively, not even trying to hide their attraction in front of their wives.

"Thank you so much for coming- your input will be invaluable to this case," she started in a soothing voice. "I'm Agent Jareau and these are agents Prentiss and Reid. We'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's okay."

The single man grasped her hand and shook it shakily. "Ben Daniels. I'm..." his voice caught. "I _was _Allie's brother."

The couples, both of whom were dressed to the nines in expensive suits and dresses, didn't shake her offered hand. JJ had to suppress the urge to sock them in the face. "Mr and Mrs. Tanner, if you would follow Dr. Reid, he'll get you started." Reid shot them a nervous look as _he _was led by Mr. Tanner to a back table.

"Mr. Daniels, you can come with me," Prentiss said quickly, sighing in relief when the polite young man followed her into one of the smaller rooms.

_Great, _JJ thought sourly. _That leaves me with the Grinch and his wife. _She escorted them to a back room where the pot-bellied man and his wife made themselves comfortable.

"Firstly, I would like to stress that everything in this room must remain confidential," Mr. Chapman said sternly. "I am a powerful man, Agent Jareau, and this has stirred up a lot of dust for me. The newspapers have been saying that Lissy was involved in drugs and what not. They're saying that the FBI would only have gotten involved if it had something to do with sex trafficking or drug lords, and more rumours will not help anyone. Have I made myself clear, agent?"

"Yes, sir," JJ replied, her distaste for the man tripling. "Now, Mr and Mrs Chapman...How long had Felicity lived here?"

"Oh, Lissy grew up here, in our penthouse," Mr. Chapman said boastfully. "And before you ask, no, she did not know anyone who held a grudge against her, nor did she mix with those of lower social class such as drug addicts or alcoholics."

JJ nodded. "It says here she wasn't in a relationship...?" she let the question hang, but when the couple just stared at her, she rephrased it. "Did she have any boyfriends?"

"No. She never had any boyfriends. Ever."

"Alright..." JJ was struggling to get helpful answers from him. "Well, did she have many friends or was she naturally...antisocial?"

"I don't like what you're implying," he said icily. "Lissy was a social buttefly. Everyone wanted to be her, but she knew her priorities. Work and status came first for her. She didn't have time for a relationship."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," she said quietly. Turning to Mrs. Chapman, who hadn't said a word so far, she continued to prod. "Mrs. Chapman? Do you know of anybody who she suddenly started hanging out with shortly before her death? Maybe an acquaintance, or someone she knew but had never really gotten along with before?"

The thin woman shook her head sadly, her eyes conveying the grief that her husband couldn't seem to feel. "It's like he said...she- she was always s-so happy but she knew w-what she wanted." She sniffed, wiping at a few tears. "She did like this one young man, though." Her husband looked shocked. "A v-very nice boy by the name of...Jacob, I believe it was. His last name was Heinem or Reinen...something like that."

_Success!_ JJ thought triumphantly, noting it down. "Do you know anything else about this man?"

Mr. Chapman looked suspicious. "What's this? Jacob Reinem? He works for me as a manager at one of my hotels. Lissy knew him. Do you think he could have something to do with what happened?"

JJ shook her head. "No, sir, but we have to look into every possible lead."

"So you have no leads?" Mr. Chapman snarled, standing up and towering over her. "This is your first lead? Are you fucking with me here? Because I swear to God, _Agent _Jareau," he practically spat out the 'Agent', "If the press hears that my manager is a suspect in your investigation, I will drag your asses to court and sue for all I'm worth. I'm going. Come on, Lindsay."

"Mr. Chapman," JJ stood up too, understanding why the detective hadn't wanted Morgan or Hotch to take the interviews. "If keeping your reputation clean is more important to you than finding the man who raped and tortured your daughter and had her live in a state of constant fear for three weeks, then by all means, leave. But if you want even the slightest chance of putting this man behind bars, you need my team. And we need your cooperation."

"We'll cooperate," Lindsay said quickly. "Sit _down_, Arnold. What else do you want to know?"

The interview continued in much the same fashion, with Mrs. Chapman helpfully answering any and all questions, while Mr. Chapman gave short, monosyllabic replies. By the end, JJ felt like pulling her hair out.

After showing them to the door, she met Prentiss and Reid at the coffee machine. Emily looked relaxed, whereas Reid looked, if possible, more irritated than she felt.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"Good," Emily replied, looking smug. "No problems."

"Yeah, yeah, rub our faces in it," JJ muttered teasingly, as they walked into the conference room where a very bored-looking Hotch was studying case files. He looked up when they entered.

"What did you get?"

"Allie Daniels was single, but she'd had her fair share of boyfriends in the past," Emily reeled off, taking a seat. "No crazy exes though. Her family wasn't too well off, but she made a name for herself. Studied hard, got a good job. The brother can't recall anything out of the ordinary."

"Yes, it was more or less the same with Jenna Tanner," Reid said. "Although I did get the impression that she worked hard to get out of the house. Her parents weren't very cooperative."

"Try talking to the Chapmans," JJ scoffed. "The dad threatened to, and I quote, 'drag our asses to jail and sue for all he's worth'. Felicity was seeing this guy- Jacob Reinem- who also happens to be the manager of one of his hotels. The dad blew up at me when I said he could be a lead."

"Get Garcia to check up everything she can on this Jacob Reinem, and also on Arnold Chapman," Hotch ordered. "JJ, I want you to go talk to some of your friends outside; Prentiss, Reid, help me here."

They worked for most of the evening and for long after Morgan and Rossi returned and joined them. By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted. They headed back to their hotel in silence.

"Phew!" Emily collapsed on her bed as JJ shut the room door. "Busy day, huh?"

"I hate the media," JJ said as she flopped onto her own bed. "Blood-sucking reporters!"

"I'm with you there," Emily agreed. "I thank my lucky stars every day that I didn't decide to go into communications."

JJ laughed as she changed into a set of pajamas. "I'm going to bed."

Emily decided to take a quick shower, and when she got out, a towel wrapped around her head, JJ was already in bed.

_Dammit, _she thought, realizing that she had no chance to pump JJ for details now. With a sigh, she climbed into bed, soon drifting off to sleep...

"Goway...lemme be!"

Emily was woken up to angry muttering from JJ's side of the room. Slowly reaching for her gun, she turned on the small lamp near her bed, only to see JJ tossing and turning. She knew JJ talked in her sleep- it was the subject of many a joke- but only when she was really stressed or mad. Grinning at her luck, she crouched down near JJ's head to better hear the angry mutters.

"Don't know...go away! Blood-suckers!"

Prentiss gathered that she was talking about the reporters. She could make out words amongst the gibberish.

"Shuddup...givitame...bloofers...stupid morons...goway!"

She had to stifle a giggle at JJ's obvious hatred for the paps.

Suddenly, JJ jerked violently, and Emily wondered if she was having a nightmare. Should she wake her up?

"No...no...Morgan...no, 's not...goway" Her curiosity getting the better of her, she leaned forward to hear the soft whispers- not angry any more. "Not...'S not my fault...Derek...'T was the dogs...not me...dilaudid...Reid...No!" She writhed in her sleep, obviously agitated. "know...my fault...Shouldn't a left...sorry Reid...oh! The dogs...cuminclos...bitmebut...meetoo...no...don't hurt me...my fault...don't hurt him..." Her ramblings turned into unintelligible murmurs. Having heard enough to get the gist of why Morgan, JJ and Reid seemed to have had a strained relationship over the past few days, Emily slowly crept back to her own bed.

**XXX**

**A/N: So, what should Emily do? Think, think, think...**

**BTW, I have a new one-shot up! =)**


	4. Diversion

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters.**

**A/N: I know it's not really an excuse, but I was practising my touch typing, meaning I typed six times slower than usual.**

**XXX**

Emily got up slowly, frowning as she worked out the kinks in her neck. Stretching, she looked over to JJ's sleeping form before heading to the bathroom to change her clothes. She wondered how to approach what she'd dubbed the "Irrational Morons" issue with JJ and Morgan- she couldn't do much, really. After all, all she knew was that JJ had nightmares about dogs, and Morgan had blamed her for something which she thought was her fault. It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened, but still, she didn't want to do anything until she figured out exactly what they'd said to each other. JJ might have been dreaming about an incident with Morgan from two years ago, which had melded together with a dream about Hankel's dogs.

She unlocked the bathroom door. When she came out, JJ was sitting up in bed. Emily smiled at her in greeting.

"Morning," she said carefully, noticing the dark circles under JJ's eyes and her tired expression.

"Morning." JJ rubbed her forehead and, grabbing her go bag, walked into the bathroom, avoiding Emily. She had a feeling her colleague had maybe found out more than she was comfortable with her knowing.

"We should probably head down to the station," Emily called through the bathroom door.

"Yeah," JJ agreed. "Let's just grab a coffee on the way."

"I could die for a blueberry muffin right about now," Emily said dreamily, making JJ laugh. She stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a fitted white blouse and black pants.

"Let's go."

Just then, a knock at the door startled them both, and their fingers automatically reached for their weapons. Meeting each other's expressions, they smiled wryly.

"At least we've got the reflexes of a cat," Emily said as she opened the door to reveal Morgan, who was grinning, apparently having overheard the last part of the conversation.

"Who's like a cat?" he asked teasingly.

"Us," Emily replied, pulling JJ out the hotel room door and locking the door.

"Do you want to give Tiger Morgan a spin?" he asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. He wrinkled his nose as Emily made a face and JJ burst into laughter despite herself. "Alright, fine, that was lame. I need my coffee fix before I can get my flirt on!"

Emily snorted. "Uh-huh, sure." She noticed things she hadn't before: how JJ avoided Morgan's eyes, and although she was trying extremely hard to keep up a cheery front with him, she wasn't comfortable.

"Whatever, Prentiss. Let's just go, okay?" Morgan made a show of being hurt, grabbing both their arms and leading them down the corridor to the elevators. Both Emily and Morgan noticed JJ stiffen, and Emily could see from Morgan's expression that he had no idea what was wrong.

_It's something small to him but big to her, _she thought, pressing the elevator button. The doors _ping_-ed and were about to shut when Reid came running down the hallway, his hair flapping behind him.

"Wait for me! Morgan! Hold the doors!" He ran into the elevator, ignoring their amused looks. "I didn't want to take the next one."

"You forgot the 'by yourself'," Morgan said, laughing.

They settled into an uneasy silence for the four floors down. Emily took this as the perfect time to examine their behaviour.

JJ was tense and it was apparent to everyone in the lift. She was gripping the metal bar so hard her knuckles turned white. She _was _trying to seem relaxed though- but she was making it too obvious, that was the problem. To the trained profilers in the elevator with her, it was apparent that she was forcing herself not to hide in the corner, turned away from them all.

Morgan was acting perfectly normal. He seemed confused as to why JJ was so uncomfortable, and his stance was slightly more protective of Reid than was needed, but that was expected given what had happened on the last case.

Reid...Reid resembled a curious puppy. He knew something was up, and he had a fairly good idea what was wrong with JJ, but he, like Emily, was trying to figure out what her guilt had to do with Morgan. He met Emily's eyes over JJ's head and raised an eyebrow as the doors _ping!_-ed and opened. She shook her head at him and gave a tiny shrug, motioning to him to come over as JJ and Morgan exited.

"What's with the cold war?" she asked in a hushed whisper, eyeing the pair conspicuously.

Reid cocked his head to one side. "I don't know...although it does seem one-sided..."

"Yeah," Emily agreed, following JJ and Morgan out of the hotel. "All the cold vibes are from JJ's side."

They shut up as they climbed into the SUV, Morgan taking the front seat with Prentiss driving.

"So, JJ, are you doing a press conference today?" he asked, in what was an obvious attempt to bridge the gap between him and his colleague.

JJ shrugged, slightly annoyed that her Avoid-Morgan-and-Reid mission was so transparent. Collecting her face into a poised, friendly mask, she replied, "Probably. It depends on whether we get the profile done or not." She turned to Emily to change the subject. "Hey Em, did you take my earrings by any chance? I couldn't find them this morning."

The drive continued in much the same fashion, with Morgan pressing JJ for information, and JJ replying in a perfectly friendly, but obviously unintentionally detached manner.

When they arrived at the station, Hotch, who had arrived early, greeted them with a tired frown. Rossi appeared close behind him.

"Good; you're here. We've been going over some of the videos."

They followed him into the conference room where the laptop was set up, with numerous screencaps showing ghastly methods of torture displayed on its screen.

"Garcia, play the second one," Hotch ordered.

"Is that Alice Young?" Emily asked quietly. Hotch gave a stony nod as the video switched to full screen. Alice lay on a cold stone floor, a bump on her head, but otherwise unharmed. The unsub walked into view of the camera, his face hidden by a mask. JJ and Garcia looked away as he walked up to the woman and began slowly torturing her. They'd seen it once already- and that was one time too many.

"Wait, this is interesting," Reid said at the 2:42 mark, pressing pause. "Did you see that?"

"What?" Morgan asked.

"He was angry. She told him to, ah, 'go fuck himself' and he was furious, look at his face!"

"But he controlled it almost instantly," Hotch said. "He's used to taking care of his appearance and hiding his emotions is usual for him."

"Reid, did you manage to work on victimology yesterday?" Rossi asked.

"Um, yes. All the similarities I could distinguish are pretty obvious: all blonde, all in jobs which require some form of leadership, all within the same age range, all single."

"Well, we know he has a type," Morgan said. "That makes it easier. She was probably a former girlfriend or boss. We could get Garcia to search for possible future-"

"Um, excuse me, honeybun," Garcia interrupted him, "but do you know how many blonde single women there are in New York City between the ages of 30 and 35?" Before he could answer, she went on, "A lot. I'm talking like half the women in the city here."

"Alright, but we could at least warn them?" Morgan said, glancing at JJ. "Press conference, Hotch?"

"We need to work on getting the profile completed first," he replied. "Garica, use any recognition program you can to find his height, weight, facial structure- anything you can. Morgan, Rossi, Prentiss, I want you to finish watching the videos. Pick up on anything you can. Reid, finish the geographical profile. JJ, I'll go over the preliminary profile with you, and you can start drafting the press conference. We'll give the completed profile to police department in, say, three hours?" At their nods, he left the room with JJ and Reid.

Three hours later, they assembled the detectives from NYPD in the conference room.

"Alright," Morgan started. "We have a seriously messed up guy on our hands. He's a power/control killer, like John Wayne Gacy. The unsub is also an organized killer."

"This offender is a white male between the ages of 30 and 40, and judging from the videos, he's between 6'1 and 6'2"," Hotch continued. "The unsub is extremely extroverted, articulate and highly narcissistic. He takes great care with his physical and outward appearance. He will dress himself neatly, whether in business or casual attire."

Rossi surveyed the room before carrying on. "Organized killers are manipulative, deliberative, and full of guile but outwardly amiable as long as it suits their objectives. In other words, this type of offender could truly be a pillar of the community, the patron saint of child or spousal abuse prevention, and the neighborhood's most willing handyman."

Prentiss nodded, using her hands to talk. "All the while, he is also the boogeyman who stalks his  
community's women, tortures them, and snuffs out their last breath. He is equally convincing in both roles and this is why the news reports always show the community astonishment in phrases like, "He was always such a nice guy."

"If you look at the victims," Reid said, "you'll note that they all share physical and occupational similarities. It's likely this unsub was fired from his job just before the killings started, and his boss was probably a blonde woman."

Morgan cleared his throat. "He feels insignificant and incapable in his daily life, so he tortures his victims to get that sense of power and control. He is most likely single, and definitely not impotent."

"Another thing you should be aware of," Hotch stated carefully, "is that he has probably injected himself into the investigation."

"What do you mean?" one of the officers asked sharply, looking up. "He could be one of us?"

"No," Rossi answered. "He's not in law enforcement, and he's not a reporter or journalist. He's most likely one of the witnesses or the person who alerted the police to the bodies. Please keep all of this under wraps; I cannot stress how important it is that certain details like the videos don't get leaked out to the public."

"Thank you," Hotch said, dismissing them. "That's all for now. We'll be holding a press conference in about ten minutes to give the profile to the media; you are welcome to come to that if you missed anything." Turning to JJ, he nodded his head towards the hall where a sea of reporters were gathered.

Putting down her coffee mug, she made her way to the front of the crowd, bumping into several reporters on her way there.

"Alright, thank you for coming," she said, smiling at them all in her well-practised way. "Now, we'd appreciate it if you would listen carefully to the profile. If you feel that you know someone who fits the description, or find out anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact the hotline displayed on your screen."

She relayed the profile to them, then opened the floor to questions. Immediately, the journalists, who had apparently never heard of taking turns, shouted out loud, pushy questions.

"Agent Jareau! Agent Jareau! Does the BAU have any comment on the victim types?"

"Agent! Has he tried to contact the police in any way?"

"What can residents do to protect themselves?"

"What should locals do if they think their spouse could be the killer?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the last question, and, remembering what Hotch had said, evaded the second one. "We have managed to gain an accurate understanding of his victim 'type', so to speak. He goes after single, blonde women between the ages of 30 and 35 who are in a position of authority or a job that requires some form of leadership. If you or your family members fit this description, please take great care to protect yourself." Before they could ask, she added, "Always stay with a fit, physically healthy person. Never go out at night alone. Keep some pepper spray in your bag. Don't invite any strangers home. If you think you're in danger, again, don't hesitate to call the hotline shown on your screen."

The pesky reporters immediately jumped onto the previous question which she had avoided. "Has he tried to contact the police in any way?"

"Are there any other questions?" She pretended she hadn't heard it. "Yes, Mr. Morrison, from The Times?"

Morrison, a skilled reporter and well-read in all of the BAU's cases, asked "Has he made any effort to be recognized, by, say, sending the local police an item meant to mock them?"

She sighed, cursing the direct question. _Time to subtly change the subject, _she thought, not really annoyed. Subtly diverting from a question was one of her main manipulation skills. "We know from crime scenes that he wears a mask, which tells us that he does not want to be fully recognized. He hasn't yet tried to personally," Hotch nodded approvingly at her use of the word 'personally', "contact us, and obviously because of this we don't know his identity. However, the moment we do, we will let the public know. Of course, we would need the locals' help to find him if it got to that point and, again, please make good use of the tip line. That will be all. Thank you."

She walked off the stage, smiling at Hotch's "Nicely done." They rest of the team had gathered in the conference room, going over a list of names.

JJ raised an eyebrow. "You've narrowed it down to..." she scanned the list quickly, "...29 names already?"

"That's 28 too many," Morgan muttered, flipping a page of the file in his hand.

Reid nodded at JJ, his eyes bright. "Garcia compiled a list of all the people involved in the investigation who were also fired from somewhere in the last six months, and fit the geographical profile. We're now going over the pictures to find people who fit the height and build of the unsub."

"Okay," JJ said, noticing Emily's lips quirk upwards at Reid's obvious excitement. "Let's get to it, then."

**XXX**

**A/N 1: I have a poll up, on my profile. Also a new two-shot called It Isn't Always a Mistake, Hotch/Prentiss. **

**A/N 2: They keep banning and unbanning sites which have even slightly M-rated stuff, so I completely freaked out, and, to make myself feel better, I created a blog where I'll only post chapters of all the stories. Just in case is banned. Link on my profile. (I KNOW, I'M PARANOID!)**

**Maddie xxx**


	5. Tense Changes

**A/N: Don't own anything. My other story is drawing to a close, so you will now get regular updates.**

**XXX**

The team sat around the conference table, Emily's sharp eyes noticing JJ, Morgan and Reid's every little movement. Reid was obviously still wondering what was going on, and was glancing at JJ and Morgan alternatively every few seconds. Since Emily didn't know for sure whether Morgan had blamed JJ or not, she was watching the pair with hawk-eyes, picking up on the slightest thing.

"Let's see..." Rossi said, his eyes scanning the list of 29 names. "Tom Milson, Reed Frazier, Vladimir Eltsin, Sheldon Pearson, Victor Byrnes, Bruce Jefferson, Ali Hadad, Akshay Anand, Troy Puckett, Johnny Clanson, Keith Preston, Felix Huber-"

"What are we supposed to be doing with this list, exactly?" JJ asked, leaning back in her seat, not even glancing at the paper. "And where's Hotch anyway?"

Reid was about to answer, but Morgan beat him to it. "I don't know where the hell Hotch is, and we're _supposed _to be narrowing the list down," he said irritatedly, looking pointedly at JJ's hand, which was currently twirling a pen.

She caught the look and immediately retorted: "Tell me how well that goes. What are we meant to do, narrow them down according to their names?" She picked up the first piece of paper. "You know what? Akshay Anand is an Indian name, if we suspect him it would be racist. Hey, this Victor Byrnes sounds really classy, we should cross him off too. Oh, I had a cat named Tom, let's not suspect him either. What about-"

"Would you just relax?" Morgan shot back. Reid opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and closed it again. "We're all trying and if you don't have anything helpful to say, why don't you just be quiet!"

"Morgan," Rossi cut in quietly, seeing JJ's eyes drop down.

Reid nodded. "I was going to say, we aren't meant to be doing anything. We're waiting for Hotch to get the info Garcia faxed over."

"Hey...JJ...sorry about jumping down your throat like that," Morgan said, well-aware that he'd made an already-strained relationship worse. "But I mean, you really weren't doing anything, and I was just..."

"As opposed to the excellent narrowing-down that you were doing, based on a list of names?" JJ asked. She shrugged. "I guess I overreacted too."

"Let's just call it even, huh?" Morgan asked, and she gave a forced smile just as Hotch entered the room.

"Garcia's faxed me over all the relevant information she can find on these men- Take four or five each," he ordered, passing out sheets of papers. "Hopefully we can discard at least half."

Each agent wore a look of horror on their face as they were handed 20 sheets of paper each.

"Start with height," Hotch ordered, "They must be 6'1" or 6'2"."

"Uh, this freaky dude's 6 feet, two-and-a-half inches?" Emily said, flipping a paper over.

Hotch glanced at it. "Well, allow 6 feet to 6'3", just in case Garcia's program was off in its measurements."

Morgan grinned. "Freaky dude? Really Prentiss?"

She looked up, grinning as well. "He is listed as having had two jobs his whole life- one of those was being a 'Dog Food Tester' and one of those a 'Bad Breath Smeller'. And he has actual _references_. From real people."

Morgan wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I don't even wanna know which one of those he was fired from..."

A few minutes of silence followed, each absorbed in their respective people.

"Ha!" JJ crowed suddenly, shoving a sheaf of paper towards Morgan. "Victor, Akshay and Tom are all too short or too tall." Emily noted that it was the first time she'd seen JJ smile a genuine smile at Morgan.

Hotch looked questioningly at the media liaison as Morgan chuckled. "JJ, you're on a first-name basis with these people?"

She flushed, quickly taking the papers back. "Um, no, I, uh, just find it quicker to use first names?" It came out more like a question, leading Morgan to let out a peal of laughter, and Hotch to look at Rossi in confusion.

The light-hearted mood was quickly dampened when Reid pointed out that the next victim was going to be taken soon, and they continued searching through the pile of people, managing to cross just six names off the list, much to their disappointment.

"So Akshay Anand, Victor Byrnes, Tom Milson, Ali Hadad, Sheldon Pearson and Keith Sawes are off," JJ listed.

"Hey, what about that freaky dude? What was his name again?" Morgan said suddenly. "Neither of his jobs fit the profile."

"Yes, you're right," Hotch agreed. "We can cross off Robert Nielson too."

"Yeah but," Emily glanced at the shortened list again, "that still leaves twenty-one people."

"Should I call all twenty-one of them in for questioning?" JJ asked, raking over the list in a last-ditch effort to cross off just one more name.

Hotch considered for a second. "No. They're all witnesses; call them on the pretence of needing to double-check some information, and if they agree to come, we'll question them."

"And if they don't agree to come?" Rossi put forward.

Emily began to tidy up the table. "It won't matter, will it, because an organized killer would agree to sit in for some extra questioning."

"If he doesn't agree, he's probably not our killer," Hotch agreed. "Call Garcia, get her to help JJ with making the calls," he told Morgan, and as they heard the dial tone for Garcia, he continued, "We need to go see the crime scenes. I want everybody in the SUVs in five. We've narrowed it down to twenty-one, let's see if we can manage to cross off at least ten of those names by tonight."

They all nodded, grabbing maps, cell phones, and coffee cups as they exited the room. JJ smiled at Detective Cooper as Reid explained the situation to him, and they followed him out of the station to the madhouse outside.

To be fair, it wasn't _that _bad, JJ thought. There were only about ten reporters. Still, that was ten reporters too many.

"We won't be answering any questions right now; we're currently on our way to a crime scene," she said swiftly, making sure none of them bothered any of the team as they climbed into the black SUV behind Detective Cooper's NYPD cop car.

Of course, the questions poured in anyways.

"When will you release the profile?"

"Ms. Jareau, do you think women should never be alone in the company of any man?"

"Agent Jareau! We received a tip-off that the offender contacted the police! Is this true?"

She smiled tightly, stiffening slightly when she heard the last question. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hotch give an imperceptible shake of his head just before he climbed into the front seat of the car. She collected her face into a poised mask.

"Women should take caution at all times when with a man they do not trust, but this doesn't necessarily extend to family members and trusted friends. We will be covering all of the necessary precautions as well as releasing a basic profile in the press conference, which will be delivered sometime today or tomorrow. And," she paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts, "this offender is currently not in contact with the police. Thank you."

Finally satisfied, the reporters dissipated, none of them having noticed her change of verb tense with the last question, which allowed her to, quite easily, lie straight-out.

"Nicely-done," Emily commented as JJ slipped into the back seat, squashing Reid between Emily and Morgan. "Which crime scene are we going to?"

Rossi pointed to a street corner just ahead of the busy intersection. "There. That's where Mary Holden's body was dumped."

"Due to the public locations where the bodies were left, NYPD couldn't keep the other crime scenes closed off for more than a week or two, and certainly not for more than a month," Hotch explained.

Morgan grumbled in annoyance. "Guess we'll just have to live with pictures of the others."

Reid, who was busily checking the map, looked up excitedly as they neared the street corner. "According to the map Detective Cooper gave me, there should be a tiny unmarked little path- just big enough for a car- that makes a sharp bend to the right just after the street sign, through those trees over there. It'll be easy to miss and it'll look more like a footpath, so I'll point-"

Morgan put a finger on his temple and massaged it. "Reid. Reid. We're _following _the cop car."

"Oh."

They pulled into the tiny path and followed it through a clump of trees until after about 30 feet, they drove out of the trees and ended up in the parking lot of a small, deserted public park, surrounded by bright yellow 'POLICE LINE- DO NOT CROSS' tape. The NYPD car was already parked, and Detective Cooper was pulling the police tape away for easier access.

JJ noted that the park was surrounded by houses, meaning that it would have been extremely tricky for the unsub to dump the body without risk of being seen. One by one, they bent under the tape and followed the detective a few feet away to a mess of dirt and rocks.

"He dumped her here," he said, indicating a spot on the ground labelled '5'. "And the rest of the numbers are his footprints, or drag marks. Where it's marked there is where he parked his car, on the grass."

"Look at that," Morgan said, pointing to the only drag mark in the dirt. "That's the only place she touched the floor before being deposited. He's strong, he managed to carry- what, 120 pounds?- no problem."

"122.3, according to the coroner's report," Reid said quietly.

Emily, Rossi, and Reid went off a few metres to see if they could find anything useful. Just then, a young woman walked up to the tape line, watching the happenings with interest.

"What's going on?" She looked to be in her early twenties, and she raised an eyebrow, obviously expecting an answer. "I live there," she added when she didn't receive one, pointing to a house a walking distance away.

"We're investigating some local crime that has been taking place," Morgan said after a short pause, glancing at Hotch. "You wouldn't have seen anything suspicious in the last month would you?"

Her eyes immediately lit up with understanding. "Oh! You're here about Mary." At their nods, she continued, "Yeah, it was big news around here. Scared the shit out of the poor couple that found her in the morning...couple of weeks ago wasn't it?" She paused for a moment, her eyes darting to the markers in the grass. "But I didn't see anything. No-one did, that I know of. And I've spoken to everyone in all these houses." She gestured to all the surrounding homes. "Hey, where's Max? Max!"

"You've lost your...son?" JJ asked, unsure. Hotch and Morgan exchanged looks.

The woman looked up in confusion before her expression cleared. "Ah, no...Max is...Here you are, buddy. Meet the nice policemen..Oh no, what did you do to your leash?."

A medium-sized dark brown dog came bounding up to them, ears pricked and tail wagging. Hotch and Morgan exchanged another look, but gave the dog slight smiles as his owner tried to untangle the leash. JJ stood frozen, her hand opening and closing desperately around thin air.

"JJ, what...?" Hotch's sharp eyes immediately noticed her tense body language and clenched hand. She was trembling, her eyes glassy. The two profilers immediately recognized that something was wrong, but unsure of the trigger, they couldn't do much but talk to her, trying to get her to snap out of it.

_The barn...No, wait, that wasn't right...Reid was supposed to be with her, where was Reid? A dog, no, two dogs- three! She had to get out, but she couldn't, the dogs...Where was Reid, had to find Reid...no, the sharp teeth, they were coming, he was going to die and they were going to get her...Closer and closer, growling, no escape...gun! Find her gun, use her gun! Her gun, shoot them! Her GUN!_

Morgan's eyes widened in panic as JJ's fingers closed around her gun and she started to raise it, her eyes focused on the dog. He grabbed her wrist, forcing her hand down and pulling her away to the side at the same time.

"What the fuck was that?" he hissed at her. It wasn't meant to be harsh, it was meant to put an emphasis on What-the-hell-just-happened, but that's how it came out.

She stared up at him, then at her hand, holding the gun, then at his angry eyes. Angry at what, she didn't know. Slowly, her hand unclenched from around the gun, and she dropped it back down into its holster, feeling Hotch's eyes on her the entire time.

"Sorry." An apology, for something. Morgan gave a curt nod, his eyes sweeping over her to make sure she was alright as he left. Hotch walked up to her, laying a hand on her arm and making her jump.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" It wasn't much of a question- more like a command, and she sighed as she followed him to a corner behind a large oak tree. Reid, Morgan, Emily and Rossi's curious eyes followed them.

"JJ..." Hotch started, studying her behaviour closely. He didn't know it was about the dogs, thank God. Her gun never raised that far. "I know the Hankel case was hard on you, and we were more focused on Reid. If something is wrong, I need to know that you can trust the team enough to tell us." He stared at her unblinkingly to get his message across before relaxing slightly when she nodded. "We'll discuss what just happened later. And I don't know what your issue with Morgan is, or what his problem with you is, but it needs to be sorted out because right now, if an unsub started shooting up the place I honestly don't believe you or Morgan would trust each other to have each other's backs."

She shifted uncomfortable under his gaze, not used to being on the receiving-end of one of his lectures- in fact, it had never happened before. Sighing, she looked up to meet his eyes. "It's nothing like that. Don't worry. I think we're just both a bit stressed with everything that happened, and honestly, I don't blame him for the way he's acting." She proudly mentally congratulated herself for the way she answered the question- by changing the verb tense, and basically, by lying. She didn't blame him for the way he was acting _now_- no, it was the way he _acted _in Hankel's kitchen that made her furious.

Because there was nothing she could have done that would have prevented Reid's torture.

And it wasn't her fault.

It wasn't.

Was it?

**XXX**

**A/N: You know why this took so long to update? Because a.) I was focused on my other story, and b.) Writing one chapter of my other story takes 25 minutes. One chapter of this one takes 2 and a half hours. I research things, profiles of famous serial killers, behaviour, I have to make a chapter plan and story plan, make sure all the loose ends are tied and it just takes so long to write because it's written like a case.**

**I love writing it though. I put a LOT of effort into this, so pretty please review?**


	6. Avoidance

**Disclaimer: I don't own CM or any of the characters.**

**A/N: So this chapter's a little shorter, but it's a quicker update. And it's moving slowly right now because I'm trying not to pass two weeks in three chapters like some fics, which isn't great because the story jumps around a lot. We are getting closer to the good part though! And I am BACK to my weekly updating!**

**XXX**

"I'm so tired..." Emily sighed, stretching her feet out in front of her. "That crime scene was a mess."

They were back at the station, in the conference room, having combed through every inch of the small park. No-one had mentioned JJ's little 'episode', and it seemed no-one was going to.

Thank God.

She knew Hotch would, of course, but then that was his job. As long as no-one else said anything.

Her pircing phone ring broke through the quiet. "Hello? Hi...What? Again?" It didn't take a profiler to see that she was extremely annoyed. "But I _just..._Okay you know what, going out is just making it worse. Just avoid talking to them, because it's only making them come back for more. Yeah, just don't say anything at all. Avoid them. Okay, thanks. Bye." She hung up and glanced at everyone else. "Press is outside again, making a ruckus." Hotch nodded in understanding.

"Okay, so far the crime scene has told us that our preliminary profile was spot on," Rossi said hesitantly, in a vain attempt to be positive.

"...but other than that, it didn't give us much," Morgan finished for him. The profiler stood up and walked over to re-fill his coffee machine before plunking back onto his seat.

Reid's expression showed his objection as he plopped down into a chair beside Emily. "It wasn't a complete waste of-"

She rolled her eyes at him. "It was a fail, just admit it."

"Come on, Prentiss, I'm disappointed in you- it wasn't a fail," Morgan said, eyes twinkling.

She raised an eyebrow at him, challenging him.

"It was a fail of epic proportions," he finished in an 'Obviously' voice.

Rossi chuckled, and even JJ cracked a smile despite herself. But she wasn't relaxing as easily as them, because she, unlike the others, couldn't shake that nagging feeling. Hotch obviously felt they needed to focus more, and cleared his throat.

"Can we get started on the calls?" he asked pointedly, and they all nodded sheepishly, grabbing a phone each. "Split into pairs; it'll be easier to pick up things if you have the person on speaker. And when you ask them to come in for some questioning, keep the question open. They shouldn't feel like they don't have a choice, or else they'll all agree and our suspect list will never get shorter."

They nodded and wheeled their chairs to separate corners of the room, phone and a sheet of numbers in hand.

"I call one to seven!" Emily said, quickly highlighting the numbers.

Morgan shrugged. "Fine, I'll handle eight to fourteen."

JJ pulled out a pen. "Then I'll do fifteen to twenty-one."

Hotch sat down on the chair closest to him, and wheeled it next to Emily, while Rossi joined Morgan, leaving Reid smiling at JJ.

She groaned internally, but smiled back, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

_I've already hurt him enough. _

She started. _Where did that come from? _she thought, _What the hell, JJ? You really need to sleep. _

She said that to herself to stop the feelings of guilt from getting to her every time she saw Reid's face. Because honestly? The reason she was so mad at Morgan was because he'd told her the truth when no-one else would. And it hurt.

But that didn't stop it from being true.

And she knew that better than anybody.

Reid stood by hesitantly, almost as if waiting for her permission. She nodded at him.

"What are you waiting for? Pull up a chair." When he did, she continued, "Okay, so since I'm not the profiler, I'll do the dialling and you concentrate on tone and speech and all that." Saying this, she quickly punched in the first number and waited expectantly.

_Brring-brrring..._

_Brrinng-brring..._

_Brring-brrinng..._

"Hello?" A deep, rough voice picked up.

JJ wrote 'picked up' in small, messy writing next to his name on the sheet. "Hi, this is Agent Jennifer Jareau from the FBI, may I speak to Reed Frazier?"

"Speaking." The man sounded extremely suspicious.

"I'm calling in regards to a current on-going murder investigation...?" She let the question trail off, hoping he would hook.

He did, and immediately relaxed from the tone of his voice. "Oh, yeah...yeah, right, I remember that. With Alicia Something right? Couple of months ago? I was a witness...yeah, so?"

She saw Reid making notes on the man's various voice aspects- pitch, tone, pace- and gave a small half-smirk, half-frown. He didn't need to make notes, not with his memory.

"We'd just like to ask you if you could come in for some more questioning...if that's okay?" She let the question hang, giving him full right to say no, as Hotch had said.

"Um...ah, I don't know." His voice sounded strained, reluctant. "I already told everything I saw to the cops at the time- and I didn't see much, to be honest. I can repeat it all now, if you want."

JJ motioned to Reed to cross his name off the list. "No, don't worry about it. We were just calling to see if you could tell us anything extra."

"Ah." He sounded relieved. "Well, yeah, I don't _mind _coming in to talk to someone, but there isn't much point and I already told you everything..."

He was trying to justify it, and she shook her head although obviously he couldn't see. "No, that's fine. Thank you for your time, Mr. Frazier."

"My pleasure."

She hung up with a sigh. "Well, that's one knocked off."

Hotch heard, and he nodded. JJ found herself getting annoyed- because if he heard what she'd said, it meant he was purposefully listening in. She grit her teeth.

"We got one off too!" Morgan announced, slamming the phone down. "Matthew Brooks."

"Keep going," Hotch instructed. "Our first guy agreed to come in, and second guy's on the phone now."

Emily put the phone down just as he finished his sentence. "No luck. Jackson agreed to come in. But," she added, "only because he was nice. He was convinced he could help."

They continued calling and inviting people to come in for questioning for about half an hour without much incident except for a small fight between Morgan and Emily- "Your suspect's voice is drowning out my suspect's voice!" "Then turn your speaker up!" "You turn yours down!" "Why should I?" "Because I can't hear my freaking suspect!"- which was interrupted by Hotch's hissed "Please tell me they can't hear you!" Finally, they managed to narrow down the list of twenty-one to a list of fifteen.

"Good job," Hotch said, his eyes running down the list. He opened his laptop, calling Garcia before continuing. "We have Vladimir Eltsin, Bruce Jefferson, Troy Puckett, Johnny Clanson, Keith Preston, Felix Huber and Tony Greem down as main suspects. The other eight are unlikely to be the unsub, but I still want them to be interviewed."

"Sure," Morgan said. "The interview rooms are all set up anyway."

"And I will take apart every millimetre of those seven people's lives and if there is anything in the least bit suspicious that would make someone even _consider _considering them to be shady, I will inform you pronto." Garcia finished her speech, and they could hear her clacking away at her keyboard. Suddenly she stopped. "Does anybody else feel skeevy at the fact that in a couple of hours all those men are gonna walk out of here, and one of them is the unsub?"

"Yeah babygirl, we all do, but this is helping," Morgan said. "Thanks Garcia."

Hotch closed the laptop just as JJ gave an odd sound that was a mixture between a sigh and a groan. "Ow, my _feet_!"

"Who asked you to wear high heels to a crime scene?" Emily asked, laughing. JJ mock-punched her.

"My job." She paused, giving her best pleading expression. "Can I have your boots? Just for five minutes? My feet are literally _killing _me..." And then she added, catching Reid's eye: "Literally figuratively killing me, okay?"

"I wasn't going to say anything!"

"Yeah, sure, take them," Emily said, pulling her left combat boot off and throwing it across the table to JJ, quickly followed by the other one. "I'm not promising the safety of your shoes though."

JJ shook her head as she slipped her heels off and put on the boots. "Ah, I don't care. Break them for all I care. Shred them, torch them, cut them to pieces, whatever." She wiggled her toes around in the boots experimentally. "Why did I go into communications?"

Emily chuckled. "Beauty comes at a price...a painful, painful price."

"With my second ex-wife, my wallet paid a painful price for her..._attempts _at beauty," Rossi put in, chuckling as well. "I don't know how much good it did her though."

JJ looked up from her laughter to find Hotch closely watching her. _Damn Hotch and his inability to forget anything!_

Hotch looked at her like he knew what she was thinking. "Can I talk to you outside for a minute?" he asked, gesturing to the door. She sighed, but followed him outside without complaint. He shut the conference room door behind them and crossed his arms deliberately, staring at her all the while.

She sighed again. "Look, Hotch, I know what this is about-"

"You should, you almost pulled your gun on a civillian!" His harsh tone surprised her, and her expression must have shown it because his tone softened. "And that would be okay, if you would explain exactly why and what happened, but..."

She shifted uncomfortably. "I _will _tell you what happened, but not now..." When he looked at her pointedly, she defended herself: "I wasn't pulling my gun on the woman, don't worry." At his raised eyebrow, she continued, "I wasn't. It was...Look, I'll explain later, but right now we've got to get prepped for interviewing..."

His eyes locked onto hers. "You can't avoid it forever."

"I know. I'll tell you, just not now?" Her eyes searched his face pleadingly. He nodded finally, and smiled in relief before opening the door and walking back into the conference room.

The other four were engaged in a lively discussion, and looked up when she entered. "When's the first suspect coming in?" Morgan asked.

JJ blew out her breath. "Uh...the main seven will be arriving in about half an hour, and the rest in an hour."

"So..." Rossi said.

"So..." Emily repeated. "Let's get ready to shake hands with our unsub."

**XXX**

**A/N: Please, please, please review. I got, like, four last chapter. That made me sad ='( - ****Me**

**But don't worry, I'll still update even if I get zero. But I'll update FASTER if I get more coz I'll be more MOTIVATED ! =D**

**Fill in this template in your review: **

***Whatever you want to say* + I do/do not want JJ and Morgan to end up together- If not, I want XXX to end up together/I don't want any pairings. I like the pace of the story/I would like the story to move faster. **

**I'm beta-ing now, and beta-ing makes me happy =D But reviews make me feel awesome. **

**~Maddie**


	7. Filler Chapter

**A/N: Renamed this because (duh! Kick myself!) JJ doesn't profile, she manipulates the press (and the team sometimes ;) ) Love you kdzl, crazyobsession101, foxyfeline, zzz-zzz84, spk, nomanslandvicki and l0vetakesnoprisoners- you my lovelies are the regular reviewers who make me smile every time and this little filler chapter is for you =D**

**XXX**

JJ stood near the door of the station, rubbing her arms over her thin shirt. The rest of the team had, after deeming the coffee at the station un-drinkable, gone to a nearby cafe with Cooper to get some 'real' coffee while she waited for the interviewees to arrive. It wasn't really the ideal position that they were in, she reflected. Having to, as Morgan put it, "smile and make nicey-nice with the guy who's planning which woman to kidnap next", but they were helping, and there wasn't really much choice in the matter.

She had managed to avoid the media frenzy outside and like she'd predicted, the crowd had dissipated, leaving just a few desperate reporters outside- the ones who were so eager to get even a tidbit of information that they'd stand outside in the pouring rain for hours.

_Rookies, _she thought wryly, _they'll do almost anything for that one big break..._

Her thoughts drifted back to the BAU when she'd first arrived, a rookie herself. She had joined the team when it was just Hotch, Gideon, Morgan, and Garcia. Reid had arrived about a year later, and Elle not long after. That first day- the first three months, in fact- she had called everyone 'sir' or 'ma'am'. Everyone. Much younger than everyone, much more inexperienced, she had understood the amazing luck she had drawn in getting to be a part of the famed BAU.

Finally the sound of the pouring rain outside the station got the better of her, and after checking to make sure the last of the reporters had slunk away, soaked to the bone, she stepped outside, closing her eyes and letting the cool water slide down her face. After a few minutes of just standing there, feeling, a few tears mixed with the rain.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that she had to be the one that was paired with Reid that night, that she was the one who was blamed. That she was the one who had to carry all the guilt all alone.

It was irrational for her to feel that way- she _knew _that. She did. But it didn't change anything because like Morgan said, in the end, one of them was unscathed and one of them was tortured to within an inch of his life. One of them escaped with a few nightmares while the other had to undergo ten days of therapy to get back to his old self and quit the dilaudid.

Although none of them directly referenced it, they all knew that the two week vacation in between this case and the last was so that Reid could visit the psychologist every day to help himself. She was glad he was better, but it didn't stop her chest constricting every time she saw his face and wondered what would have happened if he hadn't made it.

It would have been all her fucking fault.

So he lived. Fantastic. But that still didn't magically clear her fault.

And she was furious at Morgan, and hurt too. He was the unspoken big brother-figure, the one who was intensely overprotective but kind of cuddly at the same time. Obviously it was the over-protectiveness for Reid that made him lash out at her, but even then...

She was angry at herself because she knew the guilt was irrational, and yet couldn't stop it. She was furious at Morgan because he should have known better than to pile more irrational blame on her shoulders. She knew that the guilt was undeserved, and she knew that she didn't deserve a verbal beating from Morgan, but that didn't stop her from feeling guilty.

The team didn't understand...their closest guess would probably be the dogs. But it wasn't the dogs, it was the poison eating her up from inside. When she tried to ignore it or rationalize it, it just got worse. Morgan didn't understand either. He said things he didn't mean when he was angry- hell, they all did. Except this time, it had stuck, and he didn't realize it.

Reid could have _died. _She was the more experienced agent; she should have known better. They could be at his _funeral _right now.

She sighed and leaned her head back against the brick wall, letting the rain seep through her clothes. She didn't notice the small police car turning down the street.

Nor did she hear the click of a camera in the bushes.

The police car pulled over a short distance away. Inside, Hotch glanced back at JJ through the rain, then turned away from the wheel and faced his team. "I want to know what's going on with her." Short, simple, and to the point.

Reid, squashed in the backseat between Prentiss and Morgan, shrugged. "I don't know."

"Did she say anything to you?" the unit chief asked. "Any of you?"

Rossi stared at JJ through his window in the passenger seat, but then turned back to Hotch. "All I know is that there was a hell of a lot of tension between her, Morgan and Reid this afternoon."

"I tried talking to her," Hotch said slowly. "You saw what happened at the crime scene?" The question wasn't specifically directed at anyone, but they all nodded anyway. "She would have pulled her gun on that woman if Morgan hadn't stopped her."

Morgan sighed. "Yeah. And that's not...that's not good at all."

Reid spoke up falteringly. "Maybe...maybe something happened over the two week break? She's been off since we got back." They all murmured their agreement.

Emily stayed silent. Of course, Hotch noticed.

"Prentiss?"

She hesitated for a fraction of a second, thinking about the nightmare. No sense in bringing it up, just in case it was only about something Morgan said to her a few years ago or something. Better to wait for proof. "No. I don't know what's up with her either."

Hotch nodded in defeat, and, stepping on the accelerator, pulled the car away from the curb and towards the parking lot outside the station. The slamming of car doors startled JJ from her reverie.

Morgan was first out of the car, and he strode over to her. "What're you doing out here?" he asked, taking in her soaked clothes. "Shit, JJ, you're going to catch pneumonia; you're drenched. Come on inside, we've got to get you dry or you really will catch a bad cold." He grabbed her arm, intending to push her into cover, but she hissed and jerked away from him. The surprise in his face was reflected in the entire team's.

JJ met his eyes, and hers were glassy. It didn't take a profiler to see that the streaks on her face weren't just rain marks. "I know, I'm going to go in and change. I just was thinking about stuff and...yeah. The interviewees will be coming in soon." Mentally kicking herself for staying out so long, she turned and quickly skirted past the others to go back into the police station.

Morgan gave Hotch a look as if to say '_See? Not good._'

And none of them heard the click of camera shutters.

**XXX**

**This was a 'feely' chapter, just to give an insight into the characters. Next chapter will be back to the normal style, unless you'd prefer it this way. And I AM going to update on Monday like normal, so this is a special little chapter for all you guys. Review and you'll get cyber-cookies! **

**Maddie xx**


	8. Minimization

**A/N: Okay, so I didn't update on Monday. But here's a 6000 word chapter to make up for it. Don't kill me!**

**P.S. I don't own anything**

**XXX**

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Eltsin, I'm Agent Jareau and this is Agent Rossi." JJ shook the hand of the tall, bony Russian man. His thin frame did nothing to make him less intimidating, and he stared down at JJ through square glasses.

"Hmm," was all he said in return.

Rossi was sizing the man up as JJ led him to an interview room. Morgan and Emily were interviewing Troy Puckett, which left Hotch with Reid, questioning Keith Preston. All the other men had already been interviewed, save three who were due to arrive in half an hour.

"So," Eltsin drawled in a predictable Russian accent when they led him to an interview room and shut the door. "Vat is this about?"

"If you'll take a seat, we can get started." Rossi gestured to the seat set out at the far end of the room.

Eltsin glanced at it and snorted. "Vat, are you going to handcuff me too?" he said mockingly, but took a seat without further complaints.

Rossi and JJ took a seat as well, pretending to glance over some papers in front of them before they started speaking. Eltsin was staring at JJ.

"She's pretty..." he said. "Vould you vant to mit later, porheps for a drink, my pretty?"

JJ smiled at him, although her insides curled in disgust at the thought of dating this man. "Maybe. Let's just get this over with first, hmm?"

Rossi took his cue. "So it says here you were the one who discovered Felicity Chapman's body."

"Yes."

JJ quickly noted down '_Short answers- direct'. _It didn't really matter what he said here- the main point was to study his behaviour to see if it matched the profile. If he displayed any obsession with JJ or Emily, if he exhibited sadistic tendencies, or if he was in any way manipulative or controlling, he was on the list.

"And can you just go through that again, just to confirm everything?" Rossi asked, picking up his pen.

Eltsin started to talk. "I found the body, zats it. Vat more can there-"

"Mr. Etsin," JJ said kindly, "this is a difficult investigation and-"

"-Please." He smiled at her. "Call me Vlad." His lip curled back in a sneer as he looked at Rossi. "Not you. You can call me Mr. Eltsin."

"Ah, okay," JJ said uncomfortably. "Vlad, then. This is a difficult investigation and we need all the details we can get. What time did you find her?" A sneeze followed the end of the sentence.

Eltsin crossed his arms and leaned back in the seat. "Vould you like a tissue? And I told you that already, my pretty."

"You did, but we're just going over everything," Rossi replied, watching the man closely.

"Ah, about two in the night, I believe it vas..." His eyes narrowed. "Don't ask me vat I vas doing- it has nothing to do vith this case."

"No, I bet it doesn't..." JJ murmured, and she felt Rossi's shoulders shake in a suppressed chuckle.

"Vat vas that, lovely?" Vladimir asked carefully, one eyebrow raised.

"Nothing." She forced out a smile, looking to Rossi for help. He immediately changed the subject.

"And why did it take you twelve minutes between the time you said you found the body, and you call to the police?"

Eltsin looked, for the first time, nervous. He pursed his lips. "Vell, that is my own business now isn't it..."

"Not really, no," Rossi replied, looking him straight in the eye.

The man sighed. "If you must know, I vas...rapt, you could say, vith her. Verry pretty she was, like you..." his eyes travelled up and down JJ's body appreciatively. "Now I'm no...player...No, don't think I am, but I know a pretty lady vhen I see her." He rambled on, seeming lost in his own thoughts. "Yes, I do. I knew a lady from Moscow, very lovely, very pretty, but _so _rude! I don't like handling rude girlfriends...vee broke up. But anyvay..." he waved his hand, "vhy am I boring you vith details of my personal life?"

Rossi stood up suddenly. "Thank you for your time. This has been very...helpful." He strode over to the door and opened it, following the man out. JJ gathered up the pens and papers strewn on the table before walking out too. She could feel a headache coming on, and a blocked nose, and hoped that Hotch would let them go to the hotel soon.

She and Rossi waited until they say Eltsin leave the station before joining Hotch, Reid, Morgan and Emily in the viewing room.

Emily came to stand next to JJ. "Is it weird that I found his accent sexy?" she whispered, making JJ laugh.

"I thought Russian accents were hot- _before _I met that guy." They both turned to listen to what the men were talking about.

"I'm not sure," Hotch was saying to Rossi. "He seemed too...tame to be the unsub."

"But the obsession with women was definitely there," Rossi pointed out.

"Yes," Reid agreed. "Notice how he said he couldn't "handle" rude girlfriends, as if it's his property."

"Keep him on the list," Hotch said, "but as a light suspect. How many have we knocked off so far?"

"Three of them," Emily replied, obviously annoyed. "And the other three that are coming in are the most likely to be the unsub, so that still leaves twelve people on our list."

And she was right. The other three men fit the profile to a tee, and by the evening they still had only managed to knock off three men.

"Fine," Hotch, said, looking over the new list of suspects. "But we're closer. Good work everybody, let's call it a night and head back to the hotel. There's nothing more we can do here."

Half an hour later, they trooped into the main room of the large hotel, where Hotch looked at them all expectantly. "Did any of you grab anything to eat?"

JJ sneezed just as Reid replied "Not that I know of. So, dinner?" He walked over to where golden double doors led to a restaurant and grabbed a menu from a stand, quickly reading the options before handing it to Emily.

"Count me in- they have steak!" she said gleefully, glancing at it.

Rossi nodded appreciatively. "I could use some good food."

"Yeah, me too," Morgan agreed. "JJ?"

She had an odd look on her face. "Uh, no, think I'll pass." She sneezed again.

"So you'll order room service?" Hotch asked quizzically, knowing full-well she probably wouldn't.

"Yeah, I'll do that. Yeah," she repeated, shivering.

"You okay?" Emily asked, one eyebrow raised.

She forced a smile out. "Yeah, I have a cold. Stand out in the rain for an hour, it's what you get." She shrugged and, genuinely touched by their concern, gave a real smile. "Seriously. Go. Eat. I'll be fine; it's just a cold. I'll sleep it off."

"Alright, well, then, we'll meet here at...say, eight-thirty?" Hotch proposed, glancing at his watch. "That'll give you all about ten minutes to change and do whatever you need to." They nodded and started to head to the elevators to go up to their rooms. "JJ, if you need anything, we're all down here."

"I know. I'm just going to sleep anyway."

"Good."

...

Running a hand through her hair, JJ sighed as she fell onto her bed. Emily was in the bathroom, taking a shower by the sounds of it. She wanted to- _needed _to- sleep, to get rid of the pounding headache and hopefully the stuffy nose too. Crawling under the nice warm blankets, she drifted off to sleep...

...

Emily returned to the room a few hours later. Knowing JJ was asleep, she spent ten minutes trying to open the hotel room door quietly, and she almost punched something in annoyance when, after a few minutes, she managed to open the door...and then promptly tripped over a pair of shoes she'd left lying strewn on the floor.

"Damn boots, damn door, damn everything..." she hissed, hopping up and down on one foot while nursing her wounded toe. "Always ruin everything..."

The rest of the team were still downstairs on dessert- having never been placed in such a fancy hotel before, they were taking full advantage of everything the buffet had to offer, as well as of the 'The-bureau-pays-for-everything' policy that Rossi had reminded them of.

Emily had taken their leave early specifically so she could get to sleep early, so that she could wake up early to...well, she wouldn't necessarily call it _spying _on JJ...fine, so she could spy on JJ. She was going to settle the matter of 'What's wrong with JJ?' once and for all. Climbing in to bed, she set an alarm for five thirty in the morning and put it under her pillow.

At exactly 5:30 a.m., it vibrated under her head, jolting her awake. She grinned gleefully when she heard the blonde mutter a few words, tossing and turning in bed. She'd been worried that the sleep-talking would be a one-off.

In preparation, Emily had made sure that she'd had a very interesting conversation with Reid in the elevator down to dinner...

"Hey, Reid," she'd started, "It is possible to have a conversation with a sleep talker, right?"

About as subtle as a gun.

But then, Reid was never one to pick up on subtext.

She listened eagerly as he explained. "Yes, in fact, most sleep talkers- that is, people who actually _talk_ in their sleep and don't just babble incoherently- can have full conversations with people without realising it. They often don't remember it when they wake up; this is due to sleep talking being caused-"

"So you just talk to them normally?" she interrupted.

He paused for a moment. "People have reported getting better results when they disguise their voice somehow, so the person asleep doesn't register that they're talking to a person they know. Another thing is that you have to be talking about something relevant to the dream, or else obviously they'll interpret it as background noise and not someone talking to them. Conversations longer than a few minutes are rare however, as the person's mind shifts from one topic to the next and it's hard to get them back on topic."

Emily crept towards JJ's bed and slowly sat down next to her feet, wincing as the bedsprings creaked loudly in protest. Not sure how to start, she waited for something she knew.

She didn't have to wait long.

JJ started fidgeting under the covers. "Not hungry Hotch thank you..." she babbled suddenly, clear as a bell.

Emily took her chance. Speaking in a soft, breathy, fortune-teller-y voice, she asked "You're not hungry are you?"

"No," JJ mumbled, burying her head in the pillow.

_Success! _"So...how do you feel about Reid?" Better to go straight for it if she only had a few minutes.

"Like him."

Emily's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Like him? As in you want to go out with him?"

"No."

Hmm. Emily pursed her lips, deciding to steer away from yes-no questions. "So why are you avoiding him?"

JJ didn't reply, making a weird groaning noise instead.

Okay, new tactic. "What about Morgan?"

Still asleep, JJ tensed. "Hate him."

Ah, this was getting interesting. Emily leant forward. "Why do you hate Morgan?"

"Hates me back."

"He doesn't-" Emily started to say, before realizing that there was no point in arguing until JJ was at least awake. "What makes you think he hates you back?"

"Doesn't hate me. Hate _him_," JJ contradicted herself agitatedly, rolling onto her side.

"Why?" Emily persisted.

JJ was silent for a few seconds and at first Emily thought she wasn't going to say anything. Then: "He thinks it's me..." she said softly.

"Did he tell you that?" Emily asked, sharper than she'd meant to, having a pretty good idea of what JJ was talking about.

JJ relaxed into the mattress. "'S soft...The Queen of Hearts she made some soft tarts...Like Alice..."

"JJ. Did he tell you that he thought it was you?"

The media liason sighed in her sleep. "Yes." She rolled back onto her back. "And then we sat on the trumpet with you and him and her and them and all of us..."

"What exactly did he tell you?" Emily asked, grabbing JJ's hand. "And when?"

"Sometime tomorrow..." JJ replied, zoning off into another dream.

"JJ, wait, what did Morgan tell you?" Emily asked desperately, aware that this was her only shot at getting anything out of her friend.

JJ sighed, apparently extremely annoyed at her inability to understand. "He gave me _directions_! You were there, you had eggs!"

"I had eggs?"

"Dumpty!"

"Dumpty?"

"Humpty!"

"Humpty? Why are we doing nursery rhymes?" Emily was thoroughly confused. "No, JJ, what did Morgan tell you?"

"He can't fix him, no one can," JJ said anxiously. "Call Hotch! We can shoot him like a cannon! A Hotchkiss cannon!"

"_What exactly did Morgan tell you, JJ?_"

JJ huffed. "He said hi! Goway!" She began to mutter furiously and unintelligibly, and Emily finally gave up- she had a good idea of what happened anyway.

Emily stole away back to her own bed. Sitting down, she rested her head on her hand and thought about whether or not to confront JJ in the morning. Never one to shy away from a daunting task, she resolved to, and waited patiently for forty-five minutes, until JJ woke at just after half-past six.

"Hey," Emily said, smiling, as she sat up groggily.

JJ rubbed her head sleepily. "Hey..." she looked around for a clock. "It's 6:30," she said, her voice filled with surprise- Emily usually slept in until eight-thirty or nine at least, and God help anyone who tried to pry her away from her bed before that.

"Yeah, something woke me up and I guess I just stayed up," Emily lied fluently. "I've only been up for a couple of minutes anyway."

JJ gave her a dubious look but didn't comment. She stretched and gave a yawn as she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Emily tried to devise a battle plan, and was nowhere near finished when JJ emerged fully dressed and made up a few minutes later.

"Hey, could I talk to you for a second?" she asked, figuring it would be best to just go for it.

"Yeah, what's up?" JJ asked, going over to the mirror and starting to fix her hair.

"You said some...stuff, last night..." She saw JJ stiffen immediately, and then force herself to relax.

"Yeah? What did I say?"

"You were talking about eggs, mainly," Emily said with a laugh, watching JJ closely to gauge her reaction. "And some things about Morgan."

Recognizing the knowing tone in Emily's voice, JJ gave up all pretence, turning around to face Emily with a sigh, praying it wasn't too bad. "What did I say?"

"You tell me," Emily replied calmly. When JJ didn't say anything, she continued, "You told me pretty much everything." She decided her best tactic was to _pretend _she knew everything, and that way JJ was bound to let slip something she _didn't _know already. Sure enough, the media liason paled slightly and went over to sit on the bed facing Emily.

"It's really nothing, please don't say anything to anyone," she said, her eyes imploring.

"Don't tell anyone what? That you have a completely unrealistic guilt complex, half because of yourself and half because of Morgan?"

JJ looked around to make sure no-one could hear. "Keep your voice down; they're in the next room! And I don't have a guilt complex," she said defensively. At Emily's sceptical gaze, she added, "I don't, honestly. I do feel guilty, but I know it's stupid. And Morgan was just being Morgan."

"JJ, this is affecting your work. And you _do _feel guilty; it's pretty obvious once you know what you're looking for. And the gun!" Emily's eyes lit up. "You pulled the gun on the _dog, _not the woman!"

"Well, obviously!" JJ ran her hands through her hair. "I'm not an idiot."

"Why haven't you seen anyone about this? Reid did, and he's fine now." JJ shrugged in reply, and Emily chose to drop it for later. "The only thing I don't know," she added slowly, fishing for information, "is when he blamed you."

"What?" JJ looked up in confusion, before her expression cleared. "Oh, that night. We were just talking and he started spouting some crap about one of us being here and the other not...in Hankel's kitchen."

"He _what?_" Emily hissed, outraged. "We were all feeling like shit that night- if he'd come up to me and told me I was guilty, I would have believed him! _I_ would have a guilt complex right now!"

"It's not a guilt complex!" JJ cut in loudly, but Emily ignored her.

"That douche! Wait 'til I get my hands on him, he-"

"No, don't say anything!" JJ cried, eyes wide. "I'm fine Em, seriously."

"Oh yeah, how's your cold?" she asked suddenly. When she received an incredulous stare from JJ, she shook her head. "Sorry, off-topic. Anyway, I am _definitely _going to kick Morgan's sorry ass for this stunt!" She looked disgusted. "Jesus! Is that why you won't look at Reid?"

JJ nodded slowly, and then just let it spill. "Every time I look at him, I think off all the what-ifs and everything that could have happened, and everything I could have done to stop it, and I don't want to think like that because he was fine but I do and-"

"JJ, listen to me. It was Not. Your. Fault. You hear me?"

"Em, he needed _ten days _of intensive therapy to get back on his feet!"

Emily surveyed JJ for a second, then glanced at her watch. "We have to get going. But I am going to tell Hotch, you are going to go to a psychologist to get over the dog fear, and you are going to understand that it wasn't your fault- even if it kills me," she finished grimly and deliberately.

"Please don't say anything to Hotch," JJ pleaded again. "Please. It's so stupid, and he already thinks I'm going crazy."

"You will if you don't get this off your chest," Emily said matter-of-factly. "I suggest punching Morgan. Hard. Good stress-reliever."

JJ gave a strained laugh. "Emily, I'm not that mad at him. I mean, I am. But then I'm not, you know?"

"Um, yeah?"

JJ sighed what felt like her twentieth sigh since she woke up. "He shouldn't have said what he did. It was mean, and it hurt, and I'm mad at him for it. But then, I can't be mad at him because I feel the same way. I mean, it would be pretty hypocritical of me to get angry at him for blaming me when I blame myself, right?"

Emily stared at her. "No."

"Emily..."

She sighed in defeat. "I get what you mean, JJ, I do. But the whole flaw in your 'perfect' reasoning is that you shouldn't be blaming yourself in the first place...and he should _never _have blamed you. He started it all, and you should be skewering his balls right now."

JJ wrinkled her nose at the picture. "But-"

"Okay, you tell me honestly, if he hadn't said anything, if he'd reassured you instead, would you still have a guil- I mean, would you still be feeling the way you are now?"

JJ thought for a second. Then she admitted "No, not really." After a beat: "But he did, and I do."

"I don't expect you to just immediately get over it and just believe me when I say it wasn't your fault," Emily said gently. "But I'm going to have to tell the team, or Hotch at least, Morgan is going to have to explain to you that he doesn't blame you, and then I am going to knee him where it hurts."

"Emily, please don't..." JJ implored her. As an afterthought: "Tell Hotch, I mean. The kneeing is fine."

"Progress!" Emily crowed. Suddenly she was serious again. "JJ, this guilt isn't good. Thank God you realize that, but you need to get rid of it, and the first step is telling the team so we can all help."

"I can tell them myself," she argued obstinately.

"Will you?" Emily challenged. When JJ's shoulders slumped, she smiled in triumph, and then decided to knock away all of JJ's protests with one simple argument: "Reid's hurt, you know."

Her head immediately snapped up. "What?"

"He can tell you're ignoring him. Morgan's hurt too, although after hearing this, I don't care. But Reid is too, and he doesn't know why you're avoiding him."

JJ shifted uncomfortably. After a long pause, she nodded with another sigh. "Fine. Tell him. It's not like I have a choice anyway. Just don't make me look crazy, make it seem as minor as possible, and make sure I'm not there?"

"Sure." In a softer voice, Emily added, "I know how awful it feels to think you're responsible for someone else's torture. I understand how you're feeling, and I wouldn't tell the team if I didn't think it would help. I wouldn't; you know that."

"It's not like they can do anything..." JJ said, still arguing. "I can get over it myself."

"You can't look Morgan or Reid in the eye," Emily countered calmly. "And even if they can't help, they deserve to know, don't they?"

"No. I mean, yeah, I guess..."

"And once they know, Hotch will make sure you get to a therapist ASAP to get over it." Emily smiled at JJ, hoping she would give a smile back. She did, albeit a small, tight one.

_Brriinnng! Brriinnng! _JJ's phone rang shrilly, piercing the quiet conversation. "I'd better get that," she said apologetically, flipping it open. "Jennifer Jareau. Oh, hey, Hotch...yeah. I'm sorry, what?" Her whole demeanour changed, and Emily leant forward, straining to hear. "Whose...? Yeah, I know. Delicate, right...Okay...Yeah...Yeah. No, I'll bring it. Yeah. Uh, about five minutes. Okay. We're coming down. Yeah, bye."

"What happened?" Emily asked immediately, following JJ's example and grabbing anything she needed before leaving the room. She strode down the corridor to the lifts after JJ, who didn't say anything until the lift door opened. Then she checked her phone and grimaced.

"Cooper's sent me sixteen messages in the last fifteen minutes."

"What happened?" Emily asked again.

JJ rubbed her neck, dialling a number quickly before replying. "Someone leaked a portion of a video- one of the news channels has got a hold of it, I don't know how. There's a big crowd outside the station that's going to want some answers, and I need to try to stop the video airing on the six o' clock news tonight." Saying this, she lifted the phone to her ear. "Hi, this Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau with the FBI, is this Channel Seven? I need to speak with your manager immediately regarding the video that you showed this morning...the murder of- yes, that. I was told you intend to show it tonight?...Yes, I understand, but you need to understand that this is an ongoing murder investigation and there _will _be legal consequences if there are any serious effects, Mr...? Mr. Loy, are you aware that if the killer sees the videos, he could regard it as a breach of trust and escalate into a spree killing? No? It could quite easily happen. No, I don't care. I don't care. I need that video to be off the air, and any copies of it destroyed. I don't care how angry your manager gets, you can tell him to call me. Alright...fine...well, then, I'll have to-...alright, thank you. Yes, that would be good. I'll call in a couple of hours. Thank you." She let out a breath as she flipped the phone shut and they exited the lift, meeting a livid Hotch in the hotel lobby.

"Come on, we're going. Morgan's already at the station," was all he said in a clipped voice, pushing them outside where the team was waiting in the SUVs. "Drive as quickly as you can," he instructed Rossi, who was in the front seat, before getting into the back after Emily and JJ. "The longer we wait, the angrier they'll get."

"The cops?" Reid asked nervously from next to Rossi.

"No. The reporters," Hotch answered completely seriously. "We effectively lied to them, and they're going to want our blood. You know what to say?" he directed the last question at JJ, who nodded.

"Yes, but I need to know what I can tell them...Basically the only plan I've got so far is to minimize everything that happened and put across the image that we..." She went off on a media speech, and passed her notebook to Hotch, who glanced over it before nodding and replying. The entire way to the station, they stayed deep in conversation about what to say and what not to say. Emily sat silently, brooding, thinking about Morgan and feeling her blood boil every time she thought about what he'd said.

Screeching to a halt outside the frenzy of reporters outside, they piled out of the vehicle one by one, Hotch first, quickly followed by JJ.

"If you'll just follow me, I'll answer any questions," she said smoothly, expertly leading them near a small alley next to the station to give the team clear access to the door. Rossi, Reid, Hotch and Emily gave her 'Good Luck' smiles before stepping into the station.

Where Emily immediately saw Morgan making a cup of coffee.

Unable to contain herself, she stormed over to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him into the conference room reserved solely for the BAU, ignoring his questioning "Prentiss?". Hotch, Rossi and Reid followed, but she didn't pay them any attention, instead shoving Morgan up against the wall.

"You son of a bitch!" she exploded at him, raising her fist to punch him. He stared at her for a millisecond before reacting, blocking her punch expertly and holding her fist in a vice-like grip.

"Whoa, what gives?"

"_What gives? _You're seriously asking me that?"

Morgan looked to Hotch and Rossi for support. "Did she spend too much time with JJ on the hormonal train?"

That only served to infuriate Emily more, and she raised her fist to punch Morgan again at the mention of JJ's name, this time catching him hard on the shoulder. "You. Fucking. Moron!"

"What did I do?" he asked, genuinely worried now. "If this is about the coffee or something, I refilled it last night!"

Emily almost slapped him. "No, you douche bag, it's about what you said to JJ!" she all but screamed at him- but careful to keep her voice down to an acceptable level so the men outside wouldn't hear. "In Hankel's kitchen of all places!"

"What did he say to JJ?" Hotch cut in, as Morgan's face turned ashen.

"Oh my God..." he whispered. "Please don't tell me that's what's-"

Emily shoved his chest again, but this time he didn't fight back. "Of course that's what it's about, you retarded freak!"

"Enough with the name-calling, Prentiss," Hotch said sharply. "Someone explain what is going on right now!"

Emily took it upon herself to. "First of all, JJ was in the kitchen at Hankel's from what I can make out, and then he came in and said he blamed her. I don't know exactly what happened so you can-"

"That is not what happened!" Morgan interjected. Emily raised an eyebrow at him, and he elaborated: "She was in the kitchen, and she asked me if it was her fault...and I...God, I was so worried about Reid I-"

"We all were!" Emily hissed. "Probably her more than anyone!"

"I know, but I wasn't thinking then...And I _didn't _blame her, I came in and she asked, and I said that one of them was here and the other wasn't, and she had to make up her own mind about whose fault it...Oh, shit." He ran a hand over his head in agitation.

"Oh shit is right, you pathetic excuse of a friend," Emily returned snarkily. "You complete jerk, she was hurting and you hurt her so bad she probably cried herself to sleep that night!" The thought made her angrier. "You fucking _jerk_!"

"I wasn't, I just...I wasn't thinking about that," he said helplessly. "It was just, she was the senior agent and-"

"JJ is _two years _older than Reid, you know that right?" Emily snarled. "Two. Years! And she's not a field agent, unlike him, so I think it evens itself out...no offense, Reid," she added as an afterthought.

"None taken," Reid said angrily, his eyes fixed on Morgan, hands in balls. Then a thought struck him and he turned to Emily. "Since you seem the most informed, what happened with the gun and that woman?"

"A flashback, I think," she said, and Reid's mouth dropped open, as did Morgan's.

"Wait, what?" he said, "But Reid's fine now, and he went through way worse..." he trailed off as Emily hit his shoulder again, hard.

"_Reid _had ten frickin' days of seven hour therapy with one of the world's most renowned psychologists!" she snarled, her hands clenched into fists. "_Reid _had the full support of the people he called friends! _Reid _wasn't told that his friend's torture was his fucking fault!"

"A flashback of what?" Rossi cut in, speaking for the first time. Emily glanced over at him before replying.

"The dog," she said simply.

Hotch and Reid looked guilty, while Morgan put his hand over his mouth. After a short pause, his shoulders slumped.

"I was a jerk, wasn't I?" he said quietly.

"Damn right you were!" Emily growled.

Hotch gave him a clear look. "Morgan, I don't even know what to say to that."

"I'm sorry, I...Oh God, I need to apologize, she must be feeling like crap..."he glanced out of the window to where they could see a crowd of reporters swarming around. "I didn't mean...I mean, I didn't think she would hold on to it, I just thought..."

"You weren't thinking at all!" Emily snapped in retort. "You should have been comforting her not blaming her!" She sighed, the anger draining out of her body as she took in Morgan's paled expression. "You know what the worst part is?" Staring out the window, she continued without waiting for an answer, the fury seeping back into her voice with every word. "She's not even mad at you. That's how much she believed you when you said it was her fault. That's how much you hurt her...I don't even...she...you..." Giving a low growl, she hit Morgan again. He let her, staring forward numbly.

"Morgan?" Hotch prompted grimly. "Are you planning on doing anything about this anytime soon?"

The other man nodded, once, twice, a series of fervent nods, as if trying to see if emphatically confirming that he would apologize would help make up for it. "Yeah, I...no, yeah, I definitely will, I...shit. I didn't even..." He blew out his breath, running his hand over his head. "Shit," he repeated. "I'll talk to her straight after."

"You better," Emily threatened. "And you better make it good, or I'll tell Garcia."

"I will- I'll talk to her the moment she gets back inside," Morgan promised, and Emily believed him, because it was rare to see the alpha-male looking so stricken and guilty.

"Well, the crowd's just starting to leave," Rossi said. He was apparently the only one on the team who wasn't judging. "Now would be as good a time as any," he finished in his wise old man, I-know-things-that-you-don't voice, eyeing Morgan, who nodded and started to head out of the room.

"Give it a couple of minutes," Hotch told him, gesturing to the window, where they could see that although the majority of the reporters were gone, one or two remained, still packing up their equipment.

"Nah, it's fine, they'll be gone by the time I get out," Morgan said, turning back to the door. Just as he was about to open it, it opened by itself to reveal Detective Cooper standing there nervously, wringing his hands.

"Hello, agents," he greeted. "Phew, not a good day today, eh? Someone leaked the video and I'll be damned if I don't find out who." He smiled suddenly. "But it seems like Agent Jareau sent most of those pests on their way, so we could get back to our investigation...?" He let the sentence trail off, hinting that he felt very strongly that they should get back to work. Reid nodded immediately and sat down at the round table, pen in hand, leaving Hotch, Morgan, Rossi, Prentiss and Cooper standing.

"Of course," Rossi said amiably. "Was there something else?"

"And I need to have a word with Agents Jareau and Hotchner about the media situation," Cooper said, nodding at Rossi. "Obviously someone's gettin' to these videos that we don't want, and I'd feel more comfortable if we had a back-up plan in place, in case this sort of thing happens again."

"That would be advisable," Hotch agreed, straightening his tie. "I think Morgan might need to discuss something with her, but after that JJ and I can address any media-related issues with you."

"One of my detectives has gone to get her," Cooper informed them.

"I'm going," Morgan announced, his head sticking out of the door. "Reporters are gone anyway."

He walked out of the room. Cooper, Hotch and Prentiss followed, leaving Rossi and Reid sitting at the table.

They trailed after him, but stayed inside the station , watching through the doors as Morgan went to try to find JJ.

And continued trying to find her.

After a few minutes of looking around, he looked at the team inside the station through the glass doors and shrugged, gesturing to them to check inside the station in case she'd slipped inside without them noticing. Cooper immediately disappeared into the building. Hotch and Emily joined him outside, trying not to worry.

"She wouldn't...run off or anything?" Morgan asked, looking worriedly at Emily, who scoffed at him.

"No, she wasn't suicidal..." it disturbed all of them how she referred to JJ in the past tense. She flushed and immediately corrected herself. "I mean, she _isn't _suicidal."

"Check in the alleyways nearby in case-" Hotch started to say, but was cut off by two detectives running towards them, panting heavily.

They stopped in front of the team, out of breath. "Sir! We found...we found..." One of them panted, hands on his knees. The other, obviously fitter, took over.

"We _didn't _find anyone..." he said anxiously, waiting for reactions. "Detective Cooper sent Bradley here to get Agent Jareau, and when he didn't find her, we and one other detective combed through every street and alleyway on the block in case, you know, something happened."

"Where's the other detective?" Hotch asked sharply.

A tall, thin man ran up to them just as he finished speaking, short of breath and very panicked.

"What did you find?" Bradley asked immediately. The detective paused for a minute to catch his breath before continuing.

"Agent Jareau's gone." He paused for another moment, obviously dreading telling the news. "And I found blood."

**XXX**

**You saw that coming! A reeealllly long build-up, but anyway, it'll move faster now. Let's play Guess-The-Unsub! Clue: It's one of the seven from two chapters ago (titled 'Avoidance').**


	9. Violence

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters.**

**A/N: **

**Weird fact: In all of the abductions/kidnappings/yadda yadda that have happened on CM, they NEVER show the team's reactions. Sure, they show a close-up of everyone's faces after they hear the news, but then they immediately jump forward to when everything's set up and they're updating the profile. Unfortunately, I couldn't/didn't want to do that with this story, so I present to you a slightly/very/extremely boring chapter, depending on if your everyday life includes skydiving or seven-hour chess matches. **

**XXX**

"Agent Jareau's gone."

There was a beat of silence, then:

"E-Excuse me?" Reid asked, his eyes narrowing at Officer Bradley. "What do you mean, she's _gone_?"

"Did she leave to get some coffee?" Rossi cut in, his face harder than usual. "Did she hop on a flight back to Quantico? Did she decide to take an impromptu trip to Harry Potter World? Define 'gone'!"

"Lay off, man- it's got nothing to do with him," Morgan said, panting as he, Prentiss and Hotch joined the others in the room, and slammed the door shut behind them. "Look, there's seriously something wrong. JJ's gone."

Seeing Reid and Rossi levelling glares at him, Prentiss added, "_Gone. _As in, disappeared. Vanished without a trace. And…" she hesitated, "…left some blood behind, too."

Rossi stared at her for a second before speaking. "If this is some sort of joke, Morgan, I don't think it's-"

"Damn it, Rossi, she's _gone_! It's not a fucking joke, we really can't find her and the cops outside testing the blood found blonde hair..." He threw a clear plastic bag containing three pale strands of hair onto the table.

Reid cleared his throat. "We should get that to the forensics dep-"

"No need." Morgan cut him off bitterly. "There was more than enough to go around." They all stared at the bag for a second longer before moving into action simultaneously, as if a switch had been flipped.

"Lemme get the maps," Reid murmured, walking almost in shock out of the room to find the geographical profile.

Prentiss nodded, swiftly retrieving a stack of papers from the table and glancing over them, her mind already having come to terms with the facts. "We'll need to update the victimology and geographical profile, and-"

Hotch interrupted her. "Bradley, tell Detective Cooper to meet me in here," he ordered the officer, his face eerily calm.

"Uh, yes sir."

A few short moments later, Cooper entered the room, his face a pale grey. "I don't believe this. I never thought someone would be abducted from right outside this station…a federal agent, too! And _Agent Jareau _of all people!"

"We're going to need to update the profile with this new information," Rossi stated to no one in particular, while the other agents ignored the ashen-faced Cooper and continued to lay out the maps and papers. "He's decided the power and control he gets off on is worth the added risk of abducting someone who knows details of the investigation. He's getting bolder. More daring. More…experimental."

Prentiss felt panic rising in her chest at the thought of what that could mean for JJ, but she quickly forced it down. No, JJ would be fine. She was _JJ_, wasn't she? She'd be fine.

She had to be fine.

"We got something! Hotch! We got a letter!" Reid's frantic voice broke through the tense silence that had met Rossi's statement. "It's from _him_!"

The immediate hope in all of their expressions was evident, and Hotch allowed himself, for one moment, to wish with them.

Because a letter meant that it might not be the same unsub.

"That's not…that's not his style, is it?" Prentiss asked nervously, her tone heartbreakingly hopeful. "I mean, he wouldn't just…decide to send one suddenly?"

"No, that's not his style," Morgan agreed, trying to be optimistic. "Right Hotch?"

It had always amused the unit chief how, no matter how much they argued with him, in situations like these the team always turned to him without fail.

Most of them, anyway. Rossi never needed reassurance from anybody.

Choosing his words carefully, Hotch answered, "That's not how he usually works. But…" He let it hang, knowing they understood.

Detective Cooper was lost. "But…?" he repeated, saying it as a question, just as Reid entered, a sealed envelope clutched tightly in his hand.

"But…" Morgan said, glancing at the rest of the team. "There's always a possibility. Now we just have to hope that it was just some rapist who took her and not the same unsub that we're-" Suddenly realizing what he'd said, he broke off and covered his mouth, his eyes horror-struck.

Nobody said anything for a second. Mainly because they all identified with him too much. They were _all _hoping that it was 'just' some rapist. And that was awful.

But it was also true.

Finally, Rossi muttered a quick "Don't worry. We know what you meant" to Morgan before asking Reid: "Did you open it?"

Reid shook his head quickly, thrusting the manila envelope onto the table. Prentiss started to reach for it, but Hotch stopped her.

"Nobody touches it," he ordered. "Not until we have gloves on."

"Here." Cooper walked over to a side cabinet and pulled out a few pairs of gloves. After quickly counting the number of gloves in his hand and the number of people in the room, he bent down again and retrieved two more pairs, handing them to Reid, who was sitting closest to him.

The moment she had her gloves on, Prentiss carefully worked the seal of the envelope, trying to open it without breaking it. All eyes were on her as she slid the beautifully-folded piece of paper that was inside out of the envelope and unfolded it.

The team were all holding their breaths. "Well?" Rossi prodded impatienly. Morgan went to stand behind her, trying to read over her shoulder as her eyes quickly scanned the page. Both of their shoulders sagged at the same time.

"How do you know?" Hotch asked, before they could say anything.

"He knows things only someone who'd seen the videos, or was _in _the videos could have known," Morgan answered with an angry sigh, flopping down onto his chair again. "'I'm going to make her scream like Alicia', 'Do you think she'll beg for her parents like the Chapman girl?'. It's on purpose. He knew we'd doubt his identity."

"It's okay…" Hotch said quietly, trying to give them some reassurance.

Morgan snorted. "I know you well enough to know why you're saying that, or else I'd have pounded you for saying everything's fine when it _definitely_ isn't. JJ's probably being tortured right now, and this letter's a bust, not to mention filled with taunts about how we'll never catch him and…"

"Wrong choice of words. I apologize…but what I meant was, the letter's not a complete bust. We still have a written document from the unsub- we're closer to knowing his identity than we were ten minutes ago."

Prentiss nodded. "We can analyze the vocabulary, the slang, the word choice…worst comes to worst, call all 12 suspects in and compare speech patterns…"

Morgan groaned. "Why can't we just bring in all twelve and make them sit here?"

"Not enough cause." Cooper answered the rhetorical question, then sighed, picking up the letter. "I coulda given her some of my team to protect her."

"There's nothing anyone could have done," Prentiss assured him.

"Yes there is," Morgan said sharply. "She fit the victimology right down to a tee- blonde, confident, young, powerful position…hell, we shoulda just _looked _at the case and made her stay in Quantico."

Reid, who had grabbed the letter and was skimming it, looked up suddenly. "Wait…hold on, I think I got something…"

"What?"

"He uses legal terminology…"

"He what?" Prentiss asked, disbelievingly.

"He's worked at a law firm!" Reid was starting to get excited. "He uses legal terms, look! 'I'm going to make sure I'm never caught. When you get here, she'll be dead and I'll be long gone. I'm not letting any of you put me on show trial' and then it goes on about how we'll never get close enough to him to put him on trial. He has a lot of hate for the legal system."

Prentiss leaned back against her chair. "That doesn't mean he's worked with law. _I _know what a show trial is."

"Do you know what a voir dire is? Or a kangaroo court?"

"Uh, no…"

"Hotch?" Reid asked.

"When the accused swears to tell the truth, and an unfair court." Hotch paused. "I think you're right. 'Kangaroo court' is informal; not many people outside law know the term. I'll get Garcia on the phone." Saying this, he reached over and dialled the familiar number.

"Garcia speaking, ask and be helped!"

"Garcia, I need you to pull up our list of suspects."

"Done."

"Cross off anyone who hasn't studied any type of legal studies or worked at a law firm before. Don't disregard them even if they've only taken a semester of law in college."

"O-kay…and the list is chopped down to seven."

"Seven?" Prentiss said in annoyance. "That's still way too many!"

"Wait, Garcia, this is from the list of twelve suspects that we had, right?" Morgan asked.

"Yep."

"Do you remember that we originally had fifteen, and we said that eight of those were unlikely to be the unsub, but we questioned them anyway? And we crossed three of those eight unlikely names off the list during the interrogations…"

"Uh-huh, and?"

"If any of those eight are on the list, delete them."

"Okay, just a second…and, magic! Five."

"Five," Hotch repeated. "And how many of those had a blonde boss at the place of work from where they were fired? Or a blonde wife or ex-wife?"

Garcia's voice crackled through after a beat of silence. "Hold on, pulling up pictures...aaand….aw, that sucks. You're out of luck. All five have had a blonde boss or wife at some point. See, what did I tell you? NY is a breeding pool for blonde barbies."

Prentiss checked her cell phone for the names before finding the relevant files from the stack in front of her. Voicing the question that was on all of their minds, she asked slowly, "Okay, so what's our plan?"

They all exchanged tense looks before Rossi finally said it: "We don't have one."

Detective Cooper looked confused. "But…she's your team member! How can you not have a plan? What were you going to do if she was just another victim?"

Hotch and Rossi exchanged another look before Hotch answered. "We're at the point where we've exhausted all leads. We have a list of five, which is a small enough number that we have reasonable cause for arrest, but none of whom we can arrest without endangering Agent Jareau's life. He-"

"-Endangering her life…?"

Reid took over. "If we arrest him when he has the vict- JJ, I mean, when he has JJ, especially since he's made the case much more…high-stakes- since he's made it more personal for the FBI, he's linked himself to our case to a point where we can't leave now without finding him, because she's with him," he explained. "In a weird way, he has control over us, too."

"This makes it a, a very _special _abduction for him, a risky one, and he's already gotten his power-kick from just abducting her," Prentiss continued. "So he's not as worried about getting the control from her as he was with the others because he already feels powerful from taunting the FBI, so he won't be too worried about keeping her alive. He'll kill her and run if he thinks we're getting too close."

"Okay." Cooper nodded. "But what's to stop us from bringing him in for 'questioning' and not letting him leave until we find his hideout?"

"Er, mainly because we can't hold them all for longer than 24 hours," Reid said, "since we don't know which of the five he is. We'll arrest all five- or bring them in for questioning- release them after a day, and if he gets spooked, he'll kill her and move on."

"…E-Excuse me?" Garcia's voice trembling voice broke through the discussion.

"Shit," Morgan cursed under his breath, wondering how they could've forgotten to tell Garcia, and then talk about it while the phone was still on. "Baby girl…"

"JJ's gone? He took her? He took JJ?"

"Garcia," Prentiss started, "we're doing the best we can; we'll find-"

"No, don't you dare lie to me- I heard everything! You don't have a plan! My JJ's out there somewhere, terrified, and alone, and in the dark, and probably wondering where we are, and trusting that we'll get there soon but we won't because…" she let out a strangled sob.

"Penelope…" Morgan said gently. "I'm sorry you had to find out that way, but right now we need your help and we need you to stay focused so we can get that bastard behind the bars where he belongs."

"I- I'm focused," Garcia said, her voice hitching. "I'm focused, I'm focused, whatever you need, I can do. I'm right here; I'm focused. You just concentrate on getting her back. We just went through this with Reid- we almost lost him, and we almost lost her then, too! I can't lose anyone again. I can't go through the sitting in a hospital wondering if my friend is gonna make it. I can't lose her, Derek, so you find her. And you bring her back."

"We will, baby girl," he told her quietly, before hanging up and facing Hotch, a new fire in his eyes. "We can't just sit here waiting for a video to pop up so we can get clues!"

"I know," Hotch agreed. "But the videos will help us more than before. JJ interviewed two of the suspects and she knows she's on camera. Even if she _doesn't _know who the unsub is, she can communicate with us in a way the other victims couldn't. And I think we _can _bring them in for questioning."

"How?" Short, simple and to the point. How were they supposed to bring in the unsub for questioning without killing JJ?

"Tell them we need to go over more details," Rossi said, warming up to the idea. "Tell them anything, feed them a load of bull, but get them in here-"

"And then trail them," Morgan finished, looking more optimistic. "Trail them to their houses."

_XXX_

He gently, with the greatest of care, undid the bottom three buttons of her fitted white shirt, fiddling with the soft hem.

She was taking too long to wake up, he mused. Maybe using the hit to the head and the dart in her neck was too much…But no matter. What was done was done.

A soft smile danced across his pale features as the woman groaned in her slumber. She would wake up soon- maybe not now, but in an hour, perhaps two. He could wait. He was a patient man. And whatever the case, she would wake up eventually. And then…

_And then, the fun would begin._

_._

_._

_._

**XXX**

**A/N: I talk too much in these. Anyway, three things:**

**No 1. I have a new one-shot up, called Baby Blues. It's not one of my better stories, but I am incredibly proud of the fact that I managed to have a reasonably sane, rational, logical dream, remember it, and write it down. So yeah, check it out. **

**No 2. I too lazy to link it, so go to ilovetvalot's profile where you will find a link to the 2011 CM Profiler's Fanfic Awards**

**No. 3 Okay, I've been telling EVERYONE about this vid, but I seriously love it. Youtube 'Guess who's back? Criminal Minds Emily' and watch the video. Tell me you don't have a big cheesy grin on your face during the first ten seconds!**

**~Maddie**


	10. Sex

**I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters.**

**A/N: READ THIS FIRST. Here, the story takes a turn. This unsub is very sick, very twisted, and yes it may seem like he's being nicer to her than he was to the others, but there is reason for that, which is also super-twisted. It is M-rated from here…A psychopathic unsub is going to be in every chapter.**

**For someone who asked, each chapter name is a way to manipulate someone. **

**XXX**

"Rise and shine, sunshine."

JJ fought to open her eyes through the unbearable pounding in her head.

_Where the hell was she?_

"Oh, you are my sunshine, my only sunshine…"

A soft voice was singing, singing to _her_.

"Penelope?" she tried to say, even though instinctively, she knew it wasn't her best friend. She could feel the cold stone floor beneath her as her groggy mind started to register her surroundings. There was no stone floor at the police station, was there?

"You make me haaa-ppy, when skies are gray…" The voice continued to croon the lyrics. "You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't taaaake my sunshine away…"

Had she fainted? It was so dark in the room! JJ willed her eyes to adjust to her surroundings, pushing herself off the floor so that she was sitting up. Was she at the hospital? She struggled to think.

"Oh! You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me haaaa-ppy, when skies are gray…"

"What?" she forced out blearily.

The singing stopped instantly.

"Hello?" She hated how weak her voice sounded. "Penelope? Emily? Is this a joke?"

But they would never do something like this. Not with their line of work.

"Who are you?" she tried again. If it was the same unsub that they were looking for…God, she didn't want to think what was in store for her the next week.

He didn't answer. Of course. She mentally kicked herself. If- and it was a big if- if it was the same unsub, he got off on control, didn't he? He was probably relishing the power of having information that he knew she didn't have, but wanted.

Well, fine. She had the profile- the other victims didn't. She'd just refuse to give him any control whatsoever- render him incapable of fulfilling his fantasy.

"Fine, don't tell me. See if I care," she murmured, shuffling backwards to the corner of the room and leaning against it, pretending to be annoyed.

Surveying the room, JJ could see a tall, lean figure- the singer- sitting on a chair on the opposite side of the room to her, holding a small backpack. A small window was letting in a little light, and with a sinking heart she realized that it was the same room that she'd seen in the videos.

The unsub jumped out of his chair after a few seconds of silence, bored. "Do you know who I am?" He almost ran to her, squatting down and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Do you?"

"I…"

He shook her. "Do you?"

JJ flinched, but hid it well. "No."

Satisfied, he stood up, letting go of her shoulders and picking up a small object.

A video camera.

"Yes, sunshine," he said when he caught her looking. "It's a camera. I _am _the same guy you've been looking for." He paused, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "Sunshine…it's what Penelope calls you, isn't it?"

When she gave no answer, nor any indication that she'd heard, he pressed on, starting to set up the camera. "I think I'll steal that from her."

All JJ could think about was _'It's going to start now. He's going to beat me. He's going to torture me, and rape me. And they're all going to see it.'_

...

At the station, Garcia, who had flown over from DC, checked her laptop and ran over to Hotch. "Sir! It's here."

He immediately followed her to her laptop, the rest of the team behind him.

They watched the video, armed with notepads and pens, ready to note down everything they could, even though they had Reid.

...

The unsub had finished attaching the camera to the tripod and ambled almost lazily over to JJ. "You know what's killing you?" he asked.

"No," JJ said sarcastically. "Please, enlighten me. Could it be the fact that I'm stuck in a hell-hole with some sociopathic freak?"

She was pushing him, she knew it, but she also knew that allowing him to get even a semblance of control over her would end her life faster. And she needed to stay alive.

That her insult wasn't met with a slap surprised her- rather, it was greeted with a short laugh.

"JJ, JJ, JJ…" He walked closer to her and brushed her cheek with the tip of his finger. She didn't react aggressively, knowing that once he crossed the line to violence, it was no holds barred. "Silly Sunshine. Have you not been paying attention to your team? It's _psychopath, _Jenny. _Psychopath_."

Her eyes snapped up to meet his, and his grin widened in delight. "Yes, I like to analyze myself. I'm quite an adept profiler myself. Why, does that surprise you?"

"Not really, no."

"Good." His finger brushed her hair away from her face gently. "I like smart girls." Suddenly, he straightened, and started pacing the room. "Back to my question: want to know what's eating you up? I'll tell you," he continued before she could reply that no, she didn't. "It's that you _still don't know who I am!_" There was pure glee in his voice when he turned to the camera. "Hear that, _profilers_? She doesn't know who I am! You thought she could tell you my name in the video, but she can't!"

...

At the station, everyone's faces paled.

"She doesn't recognize him?" Prentiss asked shakily. "Shit. Shit shit shit."

"This is bad," Hotch said worriedly. "Everybody take a seat. I want you to note down anything and everything you can about this guy. Garcia, you too. You just focus on JJ."

...

"Why don't I know who you are?" JJ asked suddenly, her voice clear. "Is our profile wrong?"

"Well, I can't tell you that, sunshine," he teased. "But I sure wasn't any of the guys you pulled into the station." He paused mockingly, one finger on his chin. "Come to think of it, shouldn't you have been able to tell that? Shouldn't you have been able to match their faces to the video feed?"

"The room's too dark to get any conclusive image via video," JJ replied through gritted teeth, hating this man before her more than she had ever thought it was possible to hate anyone- except maybe Hankel. "But you already knew that. He's white, guys," she added, directing the last comment at her team.

The unsub let out a peal of laughter. "I did know, you're right. You couldn't even conclusively tell my skin color, other than knowing that I wasn't black." He dropped into the chair again, facing the camera. "And now, agents? What can little JJ tell you? That I'm white. Well, all your suspects were white, so that doesn't really help, does it?"

He checked his watch quickly. "Sorry, sunshine, but we're running out of time. Every hour counts, you know!" He wagged his finger at her.

"Wait!" JJ said quickly, ridiculously embarrassed because her team was going to see her, cops she didn't even _know _were going to see her stripped of any dignity and she knew that was the least of her worries right now, and she knew she wouldn't care in a few minutes, but God, she _really _didn't want them to see. She tried to think of any conversation topic that would lengthen the time. "I- you- what's your name?" she threw out randomly. "I mean, you know mine, and I don't particularly want to know yours, but it's kind of difficult to call you 'unsub' don't you think?"

He stared at her for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yes, you're right. Clever Sunshine. Let's see…" He scratched his arm thoughtfully. "I call you Sunshine. So you can call me by a nickname. How about…" He smiled. "Demise."

"Demise?" JJ almost snorted. "That's original."

He looked mock-affronted. "Jenny! That's not very polite. I think we're going to have to work on that."

Knowing her time was up anyway, JJ couldn't resist. "Yeah, okay. And while we're at it, could we work on your tendency to kill people during our little therapy sessions?"

"Of course, love," Demise said affectionately. "You know, I like your comebacks. They're much more…put-together than the others' were."

JJ's mouth dropped open. "Well, I do work with words for a living," she managed.

"That you do," he agreed amiably. "Now, how should we start off our action-packed week, little J?"

...

Rossi was watching intently, focused on every little micro-expression. "He's going to torture her."

"But it'll be tailored to her," Morgan said, flipping through each victims' file quickly. "All the others were. He knew Chapman hated the dark since she was a kid, and she didn't want to have sex until marriage so he kept it almost pitch-black and raped her more than the others, deliberately arousing her the first time. He knew Alicia had issues with her parents, so he told her they were watching and purposefully embarrassed her."

"So what does that mean for JJ?" Reid asked urgently.

"Are we profiling her?" Morgan asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Hotch's reply was short and blunt. "_He _will. For the past few days, he has been. And we think like the unsub if we want to find JJ."

It was Garcia who answered. "She likes to be in control. She's ridiculously defensive and guarded sometimes, especially about…um, about her sister. She, uh, killed herself when JJ was eleven." She rushed on, feeling guilty for betraying JJ's trust. "She hates appearing weak, especially in front of you guys." She ignored the other profilers' incredulous looks.

"Hates seeming weak," Emily agreed. "She uses her looks to her advantage sometimes, to flirt and to get what she wants and things like that."

"She manipulates people _all the time_," Garcia continued. "I'm talking, like, a million times a minute." And then, realizing how it sounded, she added hastily, "Not in a mean unsub way. Just in a JJ way."

"She likes to be in control," Reid said quietly.

"He'll take away her control, using any form of torture possible," Rossi said. "Emotionally, he has, because she knows we're watching- and he's twisted Garcia's nickname into a form of mental torture. He'll physically try to control her too. He'll try to show her that she doesn't control her own body."

"She sleep-talks, sometimes," Emily put in suddenly. "She…that's how I found out about the whole Hankel thing…"

"He'll use that against her." Morgan groaned. "He's a master-manipulator. He'll pile on the emotional stress until she…"

"God, JJ, I hope you're strong enough," Garcia whispered, glancing at JJ on the screen. "Please be strong enough."

...

JJ was staring at Demise. "What?" she repeated numbly.

"Lie on the floor," he repeated calmly. "Now, please, Jenny."

"What, but I- I'm not-" She tried to formulate a response, but it was hard, with his massive frame towering over her. He had to be, what, 6'2"? "I'm not lying like-"

"Now, Sunshine." He cracked a grin. "Don't worry, I'm not going to rape you." She felt the unspoken '_yet'_.

When she didn't move, he sighed and walked closer. "I don't want to have to force you, JJ, but I will. Lie down."

"I don't think I want-"

"_Now_."

She still didn't react, and, after another long, deliberate sigh, he dropped his backpack onto the floor, closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm, yanking her upwards off the floor so that she was standing. Grabbing her hair in his fist, he pulled, hard, letting her eyes pool with tears before releasing her roughly. Her back slammed against the wall.

"Lie down on the floor." He kicked the wall next to her menacingly and she slid down, holding her head and gasping with pain. "Good girl," he praised, pushing her hands away and tenderly rubbing her scalp where he'd pulled, simultaneously pushing her upper body down onto the floor. "I didn't want to have to do that so early. I thought you'd listen."

"I thought- this whole thing- was about- torturing me," JJ gasped out, her eyes still watering.

"No, no, no, Jenny." Demise shook his head. "That's not how it works." He tut-tutted. "I'm starting to think you haven't read the profile. It's about _control_, remember?" He lifted her shirt up slightly and caressed her flat stomach. "Tell me, sunshine, do you find me attractive?"

"No," JJ spat out, lifting her head up. "Not even a bit."

That was a lie. He _was _attractive, she couldn't deny that.

"You liar," Demise laughed good-naturedly. "I've been told several times that I should be a model."

"Yeah, you could be on posters for the circus," JJ retorted, painfully conscious of her open midriff, and of the knife that she couldn't see but knew he had somewhere. "You wouldn't even need to wear a costume."

He smacked her stomach lightly. "That wasn't very nice. But I know you were teasing, so I'll let it slide." He turned his face to hers, and grabbed her chin so that their eyes met. "Jennifer, you need to learn that you have no control."

"So who does, then?" she returned snarkily.

"I do," he replied seriously, gazing at her.

"Yeah, sure, okay, you can believe that. Whatever floats your boat." She scoffed at him, but her heart was thumping wildly. What was he going to do?

He was reaching behind him, and her thumping heart seemed to stop completely when she saw the rope. "Oh, sorry, Sunshine. I made you lie down in the wrong place. Shift a couple of feet to the right, would you?" The steel toe of his boot pressing insistently against her ribs was enough incentive, and she moved the distance without complaint, more focused on trying to see what it was that was so special about this spot.

Ah. The stakes in the ground. She was right between them. He was tying the rope to them, and her hands to the rope….

"There," he said softly. "Now you're all mine."

Demise reached over to his backpack and removed a pair of scissors, smiling apologetically before starting to cut around her thighs. "I hope you don't mind," he said, "but I prefer shorts to pants."

She didn't say a word.

Gently, and with the utmost care, he undid the buttons of her white blouse, but not taking it off. "You're beautiful."

"Thanks," JJ replied sarcastically, trying not to look at the camera.

"You are," he repeated. "Honestly." He finished undoing the last button and spread her shirt open.

...

Hotch turned away in an attempt to give JJ some privacy and respect. "There's no point in seven of us crowding around a screen. Garcia, Prentiss, you two watch. The rest of us…we need to start from scratch. Our profile has to be wrong somewhere."

The men nodded, almost relieved, but Emily stopped them. "Uh, Hotch? I don't think…is it a good idea to leave just one profiler watching?"

The unit chief glanced back at the screen, quickly making up his mind. "No, you're right. Alright, Prentiss and Garcia are permanently watching," he ordered. "Morgan, Rossi, Reid and I will take turns with you. Reid, you first."

The women nodded, appreciating the privacy he was trying to give JJ. Reid looked terrified, staring at the screen where Demise had started tracing a circle around JJ's navel.

...

JJ tried not to flinch as his cold hands drew patterns on her skin.

"Does this feel good?" he murmured to her, his blue eyes meeting her own.

She found her voice with difficulty. "Sure, if the definition of 'good' is 'creepy and weird'."

His eyes flashed and he withdrew his hand. JJ tensed, getting ready for a punch, or a kick, or a slap, but none came- instead, she was surprised to find that he made a visible effort to relax, and gave her a forced smile.

"Don't worry. It will soon."

JJ didn't even want to think about what that meant, watching anxiously as Demise reached again into his backpack and pulled out a strip of cloth.

_Was he going to gag her?_

"What's that for?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light. He didn't answer, lifting her neck off the ground and slipping the cloth underneath her head, then bringing it around and tying it over her eyes.

Immediately, the room was replaced by pitch blackness.

She understood what he wanted- her concentration on the feelings and sensations, rather than on sight.

...

"What is he _doing_?" Garcia asked, biting on her thumbnail nervously.

Emily's eyes were wide as she watched the scene play out. "He's…he's trying to prove that he has control of her body."

"He's going to _rape _her?" Garcia squeaked, and Reid shook his head, his eyes, like Emily's, wide and fixated on the screen.

"No. At least, not- not yet, I don't think…"

...

JJ's sense were on high-alert, trying to predict what he was going to do next- stab her? Brand her? Cut her?

She tensed the moment she felt a soft touch near her ribcage. "W-what," she cleared her throat, "what are you doing?"

"Shhh…" His lips ghosted past her ear, and she felt his hand run gently down her hair.

The first kiss on her neck took her by surprise, and she writhed on the floor, trying to get away from it. The four ropes tied to her limbs allowed her to move, but barely, and they offered no defence against his mouth on her neck.

"No, Jay-Jay," he whispered, pronouncing each 'J' separately, reminding her of Jacob Dawes. "Don't move."

She stilled when he moved away from her neck, and she could no longer feel his body heat. Suddenly, his lips were on her again, on her stomach, kissing a line up her torso.

"No, no, no, what are you doing, stop," she moaned, trying in vain to kick him.

He laughed. "Oh, no, remember? I control you."

_What the hell is wrong with you, JJ?_ she reprimanded herself, annoyed. _Don't argue. _

Although she didn't want to admit it to herself, she knew he _did _have control over what he could do to her, and if she argued, he would not hesitate to prove it. _Don't let him get off on the control high. Pretend like you don't mind._

And so, when his kisses moved up to the valley between her breasts, she didn't protest. When he sucked her neck and bit on her earlobe, she didn't object. When he gently lifted her upper body off of the floor and undid the clasp of her bra, she bit her lip until it was painful, to keep from arguing.

He bent down and took one of her nipples in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it until it was hard, and then moving on to the other one. JJ despised herself when an involuntary groan escaped her- it felt _good_, dammit! She hated not being able to control her body- she loathed the man with every fibre of her being, but damn her body if it didn't have a clue.

She felt his mouth turn up into a smile at her groan, and he squeezed her right breast with what she felt was victory, his other hand starting to rub her inner thigh.

_So that was why he wanted shorts. _

"You like that, sunshine? Hmm, JJ? Does this turn you on?"

She hated herself for arching into him when his hand stroked below the waistband of her shorts, and she shook her head vehemently, her hair whipping her cheeks. "No, it definitely does- ah! Fuck!"

His triumphant laugh held barely-contained glee. "What was that? I didn't hear you…" He opened the zipper of her shorts.

"I don't…oh, God….I don't…Oh!" She moaned uncontrollably as she felt his warm breath on her, and his fingers dipped lower.

"Are you wet for me? Have I made you wet?"

"No! No no no no, you- ah! You haven't, you- fuck, please…God!" She arched into his touch again, writhing under his careful ministrations. "No!"

His mouth left her so he could talk, and she whimpered, hating herself for it. "I can't understand you, Jay-Jay," he said in delight, his mouth resuming its sucking and kissing, his hands trailing up her inner thighs, squeezing and stroking.

"No!" was all the response she could formulate and _God, she hated him right now. _

"What?" he asked in mock surprise. "You don't like this?"

"No, I- ah, fuck!"

"You don't?" He wasn't on her anymore, then.

JJ lay on the floor, so close, _so close_ to orgasm and wanting- no, _needing_- more, but she couldn't, because he was him, but God, she was so _close_…

"Please…"

She felt his breath on her ear. "What? So you do like it?"

Her breathing was heavy and irregular, but at least she could talk. "No…"

"I think you're a li-ar…" he sang softly into her ear, grabbing her earlobe and twisting it. "You're not wet?"

"No..."

He reached behind her head and undid the cloth, and when she met his eyes they had the proud shine of success, and she knew hers looked defeated and pathetic.

"You see, Sunshine?" he asked, before reaching down and dropping a kiss onto her forehead. "_I control you_."

...

Garcia's face was streaked with tears, and Emily and Reid looked shell-shocked.

"Why didn't he…" Reid mumbled something, but the other two didn't catch it.

"What?" Emily asked sharply.

Reid swallowed. "Why didn't he take off her pants- I mean, shorts? It would make the most sense to do that to embarrass her, take away her dignity completely because he knows she knows we're watching."

"He has a reason," Emily said softly, watching as Demise undid the ropes and JJ buttoned up her blouse.

Demise left the room after a wave to the camera, and all three's eyes hardened.

"Which is?" Garcia asked Emily.

"Well that's what we have to figure out," she replied. "Come on, Reid. Let's go talk to Hotch."

**XXX**

**A/N: The unsub (Demise- I gave him a name because it gets annoying typing unsub fifty times) will be physically torturing JJ, but it will be added to mental torture like in this chapter (well, this was both physical and mental). There is a reason he is being nice and giving her 'privileges' such as limited privacy which he didn't give the other victims. **

**Review!**

**~Maddie**


	11. Lying

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or the characters**

**A/N: There is no torture in this chapter. However, there will be actual physical torture in the next chapter, so just a warning.**

**XXX**

When Emily quietly informed Hotch, Rossi and Morgan that JJ was re-dressed and had shuffled up against a corner of the room, they solemnly joined Garcia and Reid at the computer.

"Please tell me you've got something," Garcia begged, her fingers crossed and eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Their downcast eyes gave them away, and she groaned. "No…we were _this _close to him. We had _five _suspects!"

"We brainstormed from scratch. And we talked over it for like, half an hour," Morgan said, frustrated. "And we still keep coming back to the same damn profile."

"There has to be a mistake somewhere," Reid stated firmly, chewing the top of a pen as his eyes skimmed over the whiteboard. "We're just not seeing it. But there has to be a mistake."

"Then where the hell is it?"

"Morgan, not helping," Rossi chided, aware of the mounting tension in the room. His gaze fell on JJ, who had started to unfurl and was stretching forwards to rub her ankles, where the angry red rope marks were clearly visible, even in the dim light of the window.

"I wish we could talk to her," Garcia sighed mournfully, her fingers brushing over the screen in a desperate attempt to give her friend some comfort. As if she had felt it, at that moment JJ glanced up and looked directly at the camera, before picking herself up off the floor shakily and stepping closer to the camera.

"Uh…" Her eyes darted left and right for a second, no doubt searching for any sign of the unsub; when none came, her shoulders relaxed and she reached out for the tripod, moving it across the room, into the light of the window. Then she pointed the camera downwards, so that she was able to look at it while seated comfortably- as comfortably as she could, on a hard stone floor.

The frame displayed a blank grey wall for a second, before JJ dropped into the shot, waving awkwardly. "Hi, guys," she whispered, and gave a small, ill-at-ease laugh.

Immediately, all five profilers crowded around the computer behind Garcia's chair, elbowing each other for the best spot.

"Oh," Garcia breathed, her eyes shiny with tears. "Hang in there, sunsh- gumdrop, I mean, gumdrop. We're doing our best."

JJ couldn't hear her, and she continued shakily. "I don't know…I don't know where the profile was wrong. I'm not saying it's wrong," she added hastily. "But…I mean…it has to be wrong, doesn't it? He wasn't one of the suspects."

"Honey, stop worrying about offending those profilers," Garcia scoffed. "They can take it. They're too full of themselves anyway."

JJ carried on obliviously. "I wish I could tell you more…I don't know what any of his behaviour _means, _and you can't see his face or micro-expressions when he's talking to me." She blew out her breath in frustration. "He's just really, really average-looking." She laughed bitterly. "Guess the profile was right on that. Not that it helps. _I'm _average looking. _Hotch _is average looking."

"Oh no you're not!" Garcia cried, both palms now against the computer screen, stroking the image of her friend. "You're both gorgeous people…no offense, boss-man."

"_Why _would I find that offensive?"

"Hey, stop." Emily pushed Garcia's hands off the screen in annoyance, but gave the analyst a smile to lessen the blow. "We want to see her too."

"Everyone be quiet-she's speaking," Rossi ordered.

"I can try to describe him," JJ was offering, looking forlorn. "Um, he has quite small-ish blue eyes- same color as mine, but more…like a gray. Kind of blue-gray. So I don't know if he'd be put down as blue or gray." A pause. "He…he's white, yeah, you know that. He, uh, he has a kind of pointy nose- it's not too long, not too short. Some people have a ball-shape at the end of their nose; he's not like that. Don't take this the wrong way, Emily, but like yours, except less…pronounced. And, uh, his height is about right- 6'2", I'd say, more or less, so same as what we- you- profiled."

"We," Emily and Morgan repeated fiercely at the same time.

"He's got crow's feet around his eyes, and- God, this is really desperate." She shook her head, rolling her eyes at the camera. "See what you've reduced me to? Describing the wrinkles around an unsub's eyes."

JJ cracked a small grin and cleared her throat, aware without being able to see them that her attempt at a joke probably hadn't succeeded in lightening the mood. "So, back to my pitiful description…crow's feet around the eyes. His hair's brown, darker than Reid's but a lot lighter than Emily's. That's not very specific , is it? Um…it's a really nice kind of chocolate brown…Let me think…" Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. "Got it. Exactly like Cooper's! Same color, same length. And, uh," she looked over her shoulder, "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want me describing him to you, and I'm also pretty sure he has a way of listening in to the room, so he probably has a job that's keeping him away."

She looked uncomfortable for a second, but quickly replaced it with a poised mask before starting to speak in a clipped tone, similar to the way she delivered press conferences. "He knows what he's doing, sex-wise, so the part about him being a fully-functioning member of society is right. I can almost guarantee that he's not a recluse. He's had lots of experience, in that department."

She started playing with the sleeve of her blouse, a sign they all, save Garcia, immediately recognized as nervousness. "And don't…it's not…he hasn't," she swallowed, "he hasn't been too bad…not compared to the others. I'll be fine here for a while. Just…be as fast as you can?" She shuddered, glancing suddenly at the door from which her captor had exited. "He's coming back. Bye."

Deftly picking up the tripod in one hand and righting the position of the camera with the other, she darted across the room and replaced the equipment.

XXX

_Creeeeeak. _

The huge metal door slid open.

Demise was furious, a vein throbbing on his forehead, pulsing to a quick, steady beat.

"What were you telling them?" His voice was deadly calm.

"Hi, nice to see you- where were you?" JJ asked sarcastically, edging away from the door, her nails scratching the wall as she backed away. "It's great to see you too."

"Answer the question, Jennifer."

Her eyes slid sideways to the camera across the room, a steady, constant reminder that _they were there_, they were looking for her right now and they were coming. The knowledge gave her courage.

"I was describing you to them, actually. What, did you think I wouldn't?"

"I thought I told you not to communicate with anyone!" He was shaking with barely-controlled anger, his hand half-raised and ready to strike out at the slightest trigger.

Her heart thumping erratically, JJ raised her eyebrows, shaking her head. "Don't communicate, don't communicate…nope, sorry, doesn't ring a bell."

Demise's brow furrowed in confusion, and if he wasn't a sick twisted sociopathic bastard- no, _psychopathic _bastard, JJ corrected herself, smirking- she would have found the expression on his face utterly adorable.

"I didn't give you instructions not to address the camera, sunshine?"

"Not that I can recall."

"Hmm," was all the reply he gave, but the tension had evaporated in an instant and he relaxed against the door frame, appeased by the knowledge that she had not undermined his control.

"So..." JJ threw out into the silence when he said nothing for five minutes, one eyebrow raised in question.

"So," he repeated, grinning suddenly at her. "What do you want to do today, sunshine?"

"Well I was thinking a nice torture session, you know, ropes, chains, whips, gags-"

"Jennifer!" Demise gasped, exaggerating with one hand covering his mouth in mock-astonishment. "I had no idea you were into that type of thing!"

"I…what?" JJ floundered. "No! I didn't mean it like that! I meant, you know, actual _torture_!"

His eyes were sparkling with a boyish mischief and if she didn't know better, if she didn't know that he was probably trying to get her to loosen up for God-knows-what purpose- something freaky, no doubt- then she would have thought he was teasing her for fun.

"So you're _not _into that sort of thing?" he asked casually, eyeing her beet-red cheeks in amusement.

"I…no, I mean…yeah, but not…" Her boss was watching this, for crying out loud! "No, yes, I mean, I don't know…"

A shrug. "That's okay. You can make up your mind later."

No prizes for guessing what _that_ meant.

He continued, "You know what, I like talking to you. We're going to just talk for a little while."

JJ glanced worriedly at the camera at this new development. He hadn't _talked _with any of his other victims. He hadn't _teased, _or borderline flirted.

_It's better than torture, though, right?_

"Uh, okay," she agreed cautiously.

"I wasn't asking," Demise replied matter-of-factly. "Stay there, sunshine. I'll come sit next to you." He approached JJ and slipped down beside her, studying her, his head cocked to one side, body sagging against the cold wall.

XXX

"What the hell is he doing?" Rossi murmured. "He's completely changed his pattern."

"Maybe he's developing feelings for her?" Emily suggested, although she looked dubious as to its validity.

Hotch nodded, also uncertainly. "This doesn't seem to fit with his previous behaviour. I'd say at the moment, the most viable option is that he likes her."

"Thank you, heavens above." Garcia took a deep breath. "That means she has more time, right?"

"We'll see," Morgan answered. "We'll see."

XXX

"What do you want to talk about?" JJ asked him, trying to shuffle inconspicuously away from him- he was too close, and she didn't like it.

"My life," Demise replied easily, oblivious to her discomfort.

His reply threw her for a loop. "I guess that's okay."

Immediately, his face was close to hers, his fingers gripping her chin tightly and forcing her to look at him. "You need to stop saying that."

"Saying-"

"Saying 'okay' like I'm asking you a damn question," he snarled. "I'm _telling _you. Do we need another recap of who's in control here, Jennifer?" The threat was clear.

"N-no." He released her chin roughly and she rubbed it, feeling a bruise forming.

"Good girl." His anger was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. "Now, I'm going to tell you about my life and family and you're going to listen. And then you're going to tell me about _your_ family and _your _life, and _I'm _going to listen. Clear?"

"Crystal," came the sarcastic reply. Demise glanced warningly at her but said nothing about it.

"I was born exactly- oh, whoops, your agents are listening in, aren't they? I was born between twenty-five and forty years ago. My family was your typical cookie-cutter American family, and I was the perfect son." At her sceptical look, he added "No, really. I got good grades but wasn't a nerd, was popular but not a bully, went to parties all the time but I never touched drugs."

"Wow. Sounds like you were an angel," JJ mocked.

"I was, I was. But I _was _born with the…urges, you could say. You know, the ' Early Signs of a Serial Killer' you profilers are so fond of quoting?"

"I'm not a profiler."

"I know you're not, sunshine. Anyway, it was in my freshman year that things changed." He stared off into the distance, lost in a memory. "See, I had this best friend. His name was Matt. He was…he made me feel like I was a good person, like I was the best person in the world, despite all my flaws, you know? Got someone like that in your life, Jen?"

"Yeah," JJ murmured. "Six of them."

"I'd never had a best friend before. All of the people I hung out with were shallow jocks, and outside of school all we did together was hit different parties. It was different with Matt…once, we spent the entire day of school egging different teachers' cars; we had a points system and everything. Getting caught meant immediate disqualification." Catching her look, he shrugged. "What? We were freshmen, only fifteen. Only fifteen…" The faraway look appeared in his eyes again. "That day, we made plans to meet after school, in this little hidden place only we knew about. We were supposed to bring our bikes, and go biking for a whole weekend. I was _so _excited…"

JJ waited for him to continue, sensing something big.

"When I got there…" his voice hitched, "When I got there, I saw Matt lying on the ground. He'd cut his wrists, and there was blood _everywhere_, JJ, you can't even imagine…He'd left a note for me, saying he just couldn't take it anymore…"

"I'm sorry," she told him sincerely. "That must have been awful."

"It was my fault, too," Demise said mournfully. "I _knew _something was up with him that day- I could have stopped him! I should have done something. I just…I was just an idiot and because of me my best friend died."

JJ shook her head, her hand reaching out to touch him of its own accord. At the last second, she pulled back. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have done anything to stop it."

"Yes, I could have! You _know _I could have, so don't you fucking dare tell me any different!"

"Maybe," JJ half-agreed to appease him. "But do you think Matt would have wanted you to do what you're doing now? Would he have wanted you to become a monster? Don't you want to make him proud of you?"

"No, JJ," Demise said bitterly. "It's too late for me now. I committed my first murder when I was fifteen, and nothing anyone says can change that."

JJ was silent.

He turned to her suddenly. "What about you? What's your story? All FBI agents have a reason for becoming one."

"Nothing," she replied, looking uncomfortable. "I applied for a soccer scholarship, got in, saw one of the men who is now my superior lecturing at Georgetown, and it inspired me so I applied to the Academy."

"That's it?" His eyes bore into hers, some hidden knowledge floating beneath the surface. "I think you're lying to me, sunshine. You know I don't like liars…"

"I wasn't aware of that, actually," JJ replied snarkily, making him glare at her.

"What was it? Boyfriend beat you up? Got picked on at school? Mom abused you? Took drugs? Juvie? Uncle stuck his-"

"No!" She sighed. "Jeez. Nothing like that. My sister killed herself, alright?"

"Not good enough. I want details."

"No."

His jaw clenched. "I'm only going to tell you one more time, Jennifer. Details."

"No," she repeated, staring defiantly at him.

"Alright then, I feel like sex. Let me just get the ropes and I'll be right-"

"Fine, you twisted perverted freak!" JJ yelled, glowering. She folded her arms across her chest. "I was eleven. Back then I used to think my sister hung the moon. She was amazing."

"Tell me about her," Demise said, surprisingly gently.

"Why?" JJ asked tiredly, knowing she had no choice.

"Just do it."

She closed her eyes as the memories washed over her- memories of a different time, a different JJ. A happy, care-free JJ.

"_Anna! Mom's calling you!" Eleven-year-old JJ burst into her sister's room, having volunteered for the task of calling her sister just to get a chance to catch a glimpse of the teenage gathering on the bed. _

"_Got it, Jayje. Now get out."_

_JJ ignored her, bounding up to the bed and waving shyly at the other girls. "What are you doing?"_

_Anna sighed, but moved over to give her sister space. "Painting our nails."_

"_Really?" JJ was impressed. It wasn't everyday she was allowed to watch them do their teenager stuff. _

_One of the girls, a pretty brunette, giggled at her awed expression. "Oh my God, Anna, your sister's adorable!"_

"_Hey!" JJ said, irritated. "I'm eleven."_

_Anna laughed at that, pulling JJ away from the bed. "Come on, let's go see what Mom wants. Lauren, I've got dibs on that gorgeous purple color!" She closed the door behind her and started down the stairs, taking them two at a time, before JJ's 'Hey!' stopped her and she turned back. "What?"_

"_I'm not adorable, am I?"_

_Anna raised an eyebrow at her worried sister. "What's wrong with that? You're cute."_

"_Yeah, but I'm not adorable, right? I'm not like a little kid?"_

"_Aww, don't worry, Jayje. You're an adorable, cute, pretty almost-teenager, how's that?"_

_JJ grinned. "Much better."_

"She was just amazing," JJ said finally.

"Tell me about the day she died," Demise said.

XXX

"She saw you at Georgetown?" Emily asked. "You never told us that."

"I never knew myself," Rossi answered.

Reid was hurriedly scribbling notes on the whiteboard. "Okay, so we know he's early- to mid-thirties now, we know his best friend Matt killed himself when he was fifteen…Garcia, you got anything?"

Her keys clacking furiously, the self-proclaimed tech goddess shook her head. "I'm trying, I'm trying. There are just way too many suicides by fifteen-year-olds called Matt, Matthew or Matthias during the decade-long time frame you gave me!"

"Hold on a second," Morgan said slowly. "What if he was lying?"

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked sharply.

"JJ's sister killed herself. He seemed to _know _that, and his story…it mirrors hers too much. I mean, why choose _JJ _to tell that particular story to? Why not any of the others?"

"Because he's trying to gain her sympathy," Emily realized. "He's not torturing her because of that, too."

"And I think he's going to try to make her feel guilty about the suicide," Reid added uneasily. "It just felt off when he was talking about his own guilt. Most people would have a long, well-thought out reason for their guilt, but he didn't. He's going to try to make her feel about her sister's suicide like he claims he feels about his friend's."

"Yes, but why?" Emily asked in frustration. "It makes no sense. He doesn't get any control from it, not like he would with torturing her. What's the point of all this?"

Hotch swallowed, looking uncharacteristically nervous. "I think I know."

Five pairs of eyes turned to him in question.

"He's trying to give her Stockholm Syndrome."

**XXX**

**A/N: Cribellat got it last chapter! Well done :) **

**Now, as most of you have figured out, although there is definitely going to be some physical torture in this, much of it, at least the long-lasting part, is the emotional torture, which starts full-swing next chapter or the chapter after that, depending on whether I split it into two chapters or not. My take on the Stockholm Syndrome is not just going to be JJ-likes-Demise-as-more-than-an-unsub, it's going to get worse than that. He is going to use it to give himself complete control over her. **

**And yes, the Morgan-Reid-JJ thing will come back. It is not forgotten, don't worry. **

**Review, please! They make me update faster (and I did, right? This was a quick update) =D**

**~Maddie =D**


	12. Vagueness

**Disclaimer: It's called FAN-fiction not CBS-fiction, so as the name suggests, I am simply a fan and not an owner.**

**A/N: Next chapter will be after 13 days because of responsibilities for 8 days and a five-day vacation (yay!)**

**I used the names 'Anna' and 'Daniel' as JJ's siblings...I don't know where I first read that, but those are the first names I read of her siblings, and they stuck. So if I've stolen your names, thank you :) It might've been David, but I had Daniel in my head anyway.**

**One last thing: I changed the rating back to T for now because these chapters are not M-rated at all**

**XXX**

"What do you want to know?" JJ asked, looking apprehensive. Her sister wasn't a topic she liked to discuss with anyone- hell, after years of working with the team, only Garcia knew, and that too only because she'd stumbled across the information when hacking into files trying to find out when JJ's birthday was. Of course, in typical TV drama fashion, Garcia had left the door open, and JJ had walked in on six screens filled with newspaper articles detailing every minor fact about Anna Jareau's suicide.

Good times, good times.

Demise's short answer dragged her back to reality. "Everything."

"Like _everything_, everything, or just _some _things, everything?" JJ asked, stalling for time. She _really _didn't want to go where he wanted her to.

"Every little detail," Demise reiterated with a small nod. "I told you mine, you tell me yours. Fair's fair."

JJ forced out a dry laugh, her throat feeling parched and raspy. "This is sounding a lot like the five-year-old game- you know, I show you mine, you show me yours?"

"Your point, Jay-Jay?" He'd taken to calling her different names, she noticed. Usually 'Sunshine', but 'Jennifer' when he was angry, almost like a parent. 'Jay-Jay' and 'Jenny' she hadn't managed to find a pattern for, yet.

"Um," she cleared her throat, "isn't this a little juvenile? Generally when people talk, it's about topics that both parties want to-"

"Sunshine, you're wasting my time." Demise cut her off sharply, and she sensed irritation starting to brew beneath his calm facade. "Now either you talk, or we…get down to action. It's up to you."

She glared at him, feeling strangely safe in doing so- he hadn't been flying off the handle as with the others, and in fact, the way he was addressing her reminded her of the way people talked to teenagers: like she was being unreasonably bitchy when presented with two perfectly good options.

_Perfectly good, my ass,_ she thought sourly, shuddering at the thought of him raping her.

"Fine," she replied through gritted teeth, reminded of how much she hated the sick bastard in front of her. This was all a form of control, right? Get her- no, _force _her- to talk about her sister and emotionally torture her? Well, fine. "One day when I was eleven my sister came into my room and I was bouncing a soccer ball on my knee and she came in and-"

"Slowly, Sunshine, slowly…"

"I was eleven," she started more slowly. "And I was playing in my room when my Mom left the house…"

…

"_Kids, I'm going to the supermarket! I'll be back in about an hour alright?" Their Mom's voice floated up the stairs. "Do you need anything?"_

"_No!"_

"_Nope!"_

"_We're good!"_

_They heard her click her car keys and the blue Ford outside beeped. "Okay then, bye!"_

_Anna stuck her head out of her room door and yelled 'Bye!' at the same time as JJ. _

_Their brother Daniel, sprawled on his bed listening to music in the next room, lifted the headphones off his ears just after the door slammed shut. "Wait, Mom!"_

_The door opened again. "What is it, love? I'm in a rush- I need to buy the supplies for the bake sale and then take them over to Mrs. Scott's before-"_

"_Yeah, okay, but I'm going to Brian's in fifteen minutes remember? So could you just give me a ride?"_

"_Alright, but hurry up," their mom had replied, waiting until Daniel grabbed his duffel bag and thundered down the stairs with a quick 'Later, losers' to his sisters. JJ was surprised to see Anna hop up and give him a hug before he left, but discarded it as nothing._

_Just before closing the door, their mom called up the stairs to JJ and Anna: "Girls, you're alone in the house, so be careful. Keep the door locked. Anna, take care of JJ okay? I'll see you in an hour!"_

"_Bye Mom! Love you!" Anna had yelled from the staircase before clapping at JJ's header as she walked past her sister's room. _

…

Demise shuffled closer to JJ. She noticed, but didn't care. What difference would two inches make? "So that was how it began?" he prodded.

"Yeah, pretty much." She sighed, starting to pick at the hem of her shirt, her mind struggling to think of a different topic. "You know, I'm giving you a whole lot more detail than you gave me."

Demise's delighted laugh echoed off the walls. "And that, Sunshine, is why _I _am the boss here. Or did you forget…?" His sentence trailed off into a threat, which she pointedly ignored. He wasn't going to do anything right now- he wasn't interested in sex for the time being; it was obvious. He was fixated on his damn emotional torture.

XXX

"I don't get it," Garcia cried in frustration, her hands again stroking the screen. "How is mentally torturing her going to give her Stockholm Syndrome?"

Emily answered quietly, "It's not mental torture. She thinks it is, and it is, to a certain extent, but he could make it much worse than this. It's for a different purpose."

"Which is?"

"To make her feel close to him."

XXX

"Okay, so…" JJ took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Uh, I was bouncing a soccer ball on my knee, practising my moves for the match on Friday. The team captain was moving away in a couple of weeks, and the coach told me if I played well, he'd make me captain…."

When she didn't continue, Demise prompted, "And then?"

"And then, " JJ repeated slowly, "she came into my room…"

…

"_Hey." Anna stuck her head around the corner, fingering the chain around her neck. "Watcha doin'?"_

"_Practising," JJ answered impatiently, manoeuvring the ball through the various obstacles she'd set up in her room . "I'm kinda busy!"_

"_I know." Anna stayed silent by the door, watching her younger sister dribble the ball around the bed and under the desk with impeccable control. "You're pretty good."_

"_Annie, I'm trying to concentrate! Go away!"_

_Anna didn't reply, instead waiting for the ball to get nearer before lunging for it and grabbing it. Then she turned and threw it down the stairs, ignoring JJ's 'Hey!'. "Can you listen to me please? Just for a minute?"_

"_Anna! You just threw my brand new-"_

"_I know. And I'm sorry," Anna had said quickly. "But…just a minute, Jayje?"_

_JJ huffed in annoyance, flopping onto her bed. "Fine. What do you want?"_

"_Here." A small gold chain was thrust into her hand. "I want you to have this."_

"_Your necklace?" JJ's eyes widened. It was Anna's favourite possession, and she never used to let anyone even touch it, let alone borrow it for more than a day. "You're letting me borrow it?"_

"_No." Anna shook her head, and JJ's face fell. She quickly amended, "No, I mean I want you to keep it."_

"_Really?" JJ asked, a huge grin spreading across her face. "Thank you!" The grin dropped suddenly. "Wait, no, I can't. It's your favourite necklace…" The tone and argument sounded weak even to her own ears, and she wasn't surprised when Anna shook her head firmly. _

"_It's yours now." After a moment's hesitation, she continued, "I love you, you know that right?"_

_JJ was preoccupied with clasping the necklace around her neck, and managed a quick 'I love you too', muffled because her tongue was sticking out in concentration. Anna reached over with a laugh and deftly fixed the clasp, her hands lingering on JJ's neck and hair a little longer than usual. _

"_I'm in a silly mood today," she told JJ suddenly. "I want a hug. Can I have a hug? Like a nice, huge, proper squeeze-you-so-tight-you-can't-breathe-hug?"_

_JJ gave her an odd look but complied, a willing participant after the generous gift. Anna's arms wrapped around her and really did squeeze her so tight that she couldn't breathe and she pushed away, giggling that she was being strangled. _

"_I love you, Jayje," were the last words Anna said before she left the room._

…

"She said that she loved me before she left, and I was so busy that I never even answered…" JJ's voice caught, and she quickly cleared her throat. "Anyway, that's what happened before I found her."

Demise had somehow wormed his way closer to her during her recount, and he was now sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder with her. Reaching out to touch her elbow, he prodded, "Where did you find her?", ignoring her flinch at his touch.

"Outside…in the woods next to the park. I got bored so I went to look for her…"

…

"_Anna!" JJ yelled, running into her sister's room. "Look what I can-" She stopped mid-sentence when she found the room empty, head cocked to one side in confusion. Then she shrugged and started down the stairs, figuring her sister was just getting something to eat. _

"_Can I have a snack too? I'm really hungry!" But when she looked into the kitchen, it was empty, the counters spotless. "Anna! ANNA! AAAAAAA-NA!"_

_Finally, after running through the house three times, JJ decided that she must be outside. Anna loved the woods; she said it was easier to think in the peace and quiet. JJ and Daniel loved the woods too, but only because they could make noise without being told off by their parents. The two of them had spent many summers building forts and tree-houses in the leaves in their special clearing, often dragging Anna with them- she got into it too though, once she was persuaded to help. _

_JJ felt excited as she scanned the backyard, and, finding it empty, headed for their clearing in the woods. Daniel had promised her that now she was older, this spring they'd go to their special place and set off rockets, as long as they didn't tell their parents. _

"_Anna! Anna, are you here? Can I have something to eat? Can you make the pasta with the sauce that I-" JJ was cut off again, but not by her sister's absence._

_This time, it was her presence that stopped her. _

_Anna was lying on the ground in the clearing, blood pooling from her wrists and mixing with the red of fallen leaves. JJ stood stock-still for a moment, just staring. _

_Halloween was coming up, right? Right? This was just practise for it. _

_And sometimes people April Fooled each other in different months, right? And Anna loved to prank, so this was just a prank? _

"_Anna…" JJ said cautiously, stepping closer, her fingers subconsciously reaching for the chain around her neck. "Anna, I know it's a joke. Don't suddenly get up and shout 'Boo!', okay, 'cause you know I don't like that…"_

_When Anna didn't move, JJ moved even closer. "Anna…" she repeated, trying to deny what was in front of her. "I'm not stupid; I know what fake blood is…Anna?"_

_She dropped to her knees in front of her sister, reaching out and shaking her by her shirt. There was no response. _

"_Annie…?" Panic and hysteria started to creep in. "Annie! Get up! Anna!" When she resumed the shaking, her fingers brushed icy skin, and that was when she knew beyond doubt that her sister was dead. Still JJ reached down and shook Anna hard, pressing on her chest like she'd seen people do in movies. _

"_Anna, no, please, wake up. Please, Annie, no. Wake up…Wake up!" JJ continued her compressions, and when there was no response tears started to trail down her cheeks as she tried in desperation to bunch up her shirt and mop up the blood. "Come on, Annie, wake up. You can't die, you can't. Annie, please, no…"_

_She stood up and tried to drag her sister's body through the leaves, but Anna was much bigger than she was, and she had to give up. "No, come on, wake up. You can't just die, you can't leave me, you can't, please, no…" She threw her arms around Anna, sobbing into her sister's shirt. "Wake up, Annie, wake up…"_

_Forty-five minutes later, when Daniel was sent to call his sisters for dinner, he found JJ curled up beside Anna, her tear-streaked face buried in Anna's neck, her fingers stroking her hair. He ran over to them both and immediately checked Anna's pulse; she was cold and lifeless, and had obviously been dead for over an hour. Daniel turned to JJ and tried to pull her away but she held on with a vice-like grip, mumbling incoherently. _

"_Come on, JJ," he coaxed her, wanting to go back for help, but unable to leave her alone. "We have to go get someone."_

_She murmured under her breath and he bent down to hear her, tears in his own eyes. "She wouldn't wake up, Danny…"_

"_I know, Jayje. It's not your fault." _

_JJ finally looked up, and numbly allowed Daniel to pull her up. The moment she was up, her knees buckled, and he caught her and picked her up. _

_Five minutes later, their mother saw from the window two of her children returning, one carrying the other, tears staining both of their faces. _

_JJ's hands and knees were covered in blood. _

…

"That's awful, Sunshine…" Demise murmured, laying a comforting hand across her shoulder.

This time, she didn't flinch away but stayed still, tell-tale streaks glistening on her cheeks.

"I'm sure yours was just as bad as mine; I just gave you more details," JJ replied stiffly, forcing herself not to lean into his touch- she was only human, damn it!

Humans like human contact, she reassured herself. It was only natural.

"It _was_ bad," Demise agreed softly, starting to rub her shoulder. She tensed, gritting her teeth. "But how did you feel afterwards?"

Her eyes snapped up to meet his, thrown by the sudden question. "What?"

XXX

"Be careful, be careful," Morgan said nervously, fingers crossed uncharacteristically.

"He's going in for it," Emily agreed. "Hopefully he won't be too good at it though. She's worked with profilers; she'll have picked up a few things so it might be okay if he's too obvious."

Rossi nodded. "Just hope that he's transparent."

XXX

Demise repeated, "How did you feel after? Did you go through the stages of grief? Anger, denial?"

JJ nodded slowly, thinking. "I guess. I didn't believe it when I first saw her, and I kept forgetting she was gone for days after. It made it harder for my parents, I guess. And, uh, after a while, I started to get angry, because she was supposed to take care of me, not bring me more pain." She laughed bitterly. "Selfish, huh?"

"Yes," Demise agreed, his eyes dark in the dim room. "Selfish."

JJ continued talking, finding that it was almost like therapy: once the painful start was over, it was easier, and in fact nicer to talk about it. "I kind of skipped past the depression and bargaining- it was a lot of anger, for a long time, mixed with a little depression and I guess some guilt too. And then straight to acceptance."

"Why guilt?"

JJ shrugged, letting out a small sigh before leaning back against the wall. "Don't know. I guess because she loved that necklace and it should have been obvious, you know? But I was only eleven."

"There are some eleven-year-olds who have saved the lives of hundreds," Demise commented vaguely, and JJ's brow furrowed in confusion, unsure as to his point.

She asked as much, and he answered just as vaguely: "There are always options, Sunshine."

After a second, she understood his meaning and her eyes narrowed. "So, what, you think it's my fault? I should have done something, is that what you're saying?"

He shrugged. "I said no such thing. You're putting your own words in my mouth. You obviously have some remaining guilt."

"But I don't feel guilty!" JJ argued, sitting forward, frustrated and feeling a little dread in the pit of her stomach, for some reason.

"Don't you?" he replied simply.

She didn't say anything for a few minutes, trying to get her thoughts in order. Finally, she whispered, "No." And then, louder, "I don't. There was nothing I could have done…"

"Nothing?"

"Well I could've told somebody, but only if I knew what she was planning in the first place, and I didn't." She sat back again, satisfied.

Demise shook his head. "To each his own. Now let's talk about our extended fa-"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" JJ questioned sharply, getting annoyed.

Pretending he didn't know what she was talking about, Demise raised his eyebrows in bewilderment. "What's that, Sunshine?"

"You know. What you said. 'To each his own' or some crap like that." She shifted positions on the floor so that they were no longer side-to-side but face-to-face.

"Jen, we're different people with different opinions…"

"Tell me what you meant."

XXX

"Come on, JJ, he's taking orders from you," Emily cried in frustration. "There's something wrong- pick up on it!"

"Garcia?" Reid asked hopefully.

She shook her head mournfully. "Sorry. I didn't notice that until Em pointed it out."

"Well, okay, you're our non-profiler JJ," Morgan said, looking the tech in the eye. "You're JJ. What are you seeing from this creep?"

"He…seems…" Garcia struggled to string the words together. "I don't know! He seems okay. Like if I didn't know he was a psycho-bat, I'd like him a little."

"Shit," came from five voices all at once.

XXX

"Tell me!" JJ was insisting, and she looked triumphant when Demise gave in.

"Fine. I just think that eleven is old enough to pick up on the emotions of someone you live with."

"But I couldn't have _done _anything!" JJ cried, beyond aggravated now.

He shrugged with one shoulder. "I would have."

"What would you have done?" she challenged, poking him with a fingernail.

He swatted her hand away before answering. "She picked you to go to, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"And I'm guessing she would have gone to your brother, too, if he was home."

"Again, your point?"

"Well, that means that since she couldn't say goodbye to your brother- Daniel, right?- then she doubled her goodbye to you. And I'm sorry, Sunshine, no offense but it seemed pretty obvious that something was wrong when you were telling me the story. Since when do siblings give away their most prized possessions?" When he finished he looked apologetically at her.

She was struggling to come up with an answer, her mind clouded from the memories that she hadn't even _visited_ let alone talked through for a decade, if not longer. "I…I gave them stuff, sometimes," she finally said, lamely.

"If you had given away your soccer ball-"

"I never would have," JJ cut him off, and he raised a finger to silence her.

"Let me finish. _If _you had, what would that mean?"

"That something was very, very wrong with the world," JJ shot back humorously. Then her face fell. "Oh."

"Yes."

"But…but…" JJ was genuinely finding it difficult to come up with a good defence. "But I wasn't thinking ab-"

"Exactly." Demise waved a hand in front of her shocked face to make her blink. "Look, I'm not blaming you but-"

"Who the hell are you to even judge me?" JJ snapped at him angrily, reaching the end of her tether. "I don't know how the fuck you twisted it into it being my fault, but it's not and you know it!"

"Okay, okay…" Demise held his hands up in surrender. "Let's change the topic. What should we do now?" He glanced at his watch suddenly. "Oh, on that note…bedtime. I'll bring you something to eat in the morning."

"Thanks. Appreciate it," was JJ's sarcastic reply before he slammed the metal door shut.

XXX

"Smart girl!" Garcia crowed. "It's not your fault!"

"He's good," Rossi said worriedly. "Obvious if you know what you're looking for, but otherwise…"

**XXX**

**A/N: I'm actually really annoyed at myself because in this chapter so much more was supposed to happen but because like an idiot I write about tiny little inconsequential details, it slows everything down. In my plan, this point in the story was chapter 6.**

**So I'm honestly sorry for the lack of action in this chapter, but I'll try my hardest to pick up the pace and not focus on little details so much (but don't expect JJ to develop SS in two chapters either, because I don't think I can promise anywhere near that!)**

**Review! (See, you review and I write faster!)**

**~Maddie**


	13. Physical Threats

**Disclaimer: Don't own CM or any of the characters except for the unsub**

* * *

"Garcia? What time did you come in?" Morgan demanded when they trooped into the police station only to see her watching the live feed, her hand stroking the screen.

Her eyes were puffy and blood-shot- they weren't sure if it was because she hadn't slept or because she had cried. Both, probably.

She looked up when she heard her name. "I think four? Maybe."

"Four in the morning?" Emily repeated, exchanging a glance with Hotch. "Being sleep deprived won't help her, you know."

"I know." Garcia sighed, tearing her eyes away from the screen. "But I want her to have someone- one person to be there for her at night when she's all alone."

"There were two cops watching all night," Emily reminded her.

"No. She needs a friend too. She was cold. And she was shivering and mumbling something…"

"What did the unsub do?" Hotch asked sharply. "When she started talking?"

"He was just listening."

* * *

JJ groaned as she forced her eyes open- her back was not appreciating the current sleeping conditions.

The door creaked open, scraping along the floor as it did. "Good morning, sunshine!" Demise bounded into the room, looking bright and animated.

"_How _do you do that?" she complained. "You popped in like the energizer bunny exactly when I woke up."

"I'm just that good," he chirped, wiggling his eyebrows. "So, Jenny, how are we today?"

"Me, I'm fine," JJ replied, pushing herself up and leaning against the wall, tense. "You, not so sure about. You might want to consider investing in a therapist."

He grinned at her. "How do you come up with this stuff? It's gold."

"Yeah, well, I'm an angel of wisdom, didn't you know?"

He came closer to her, and she backed away almost immediately, causing him to laugh loudly. "Silly Sunshine. I won't hurt you." _Yeah, right_. "I just want to remind you who's in charge- it'll just be quick, I promise."

JJ had paled. "N-no, that's okay, you don't have to…" But before she could protest, he had grabbed her wrists and pinned them behind her back with one hand despite her struggles- she really was in an awkward position, and she cursed herself for sitting in a way that didn't allow her to comfortably move now that he was pressed up against her. She watched him, fear shining in her eyes as she cast a furtive glance at the camera. _Not again. _

Demise had his head cocked to one side. Suddenly, he leant in towards her, cupping her face as his mouth descended on hers. She tried to push him off but he held her tightly, kissing her fiercely until he was forced to take a breath.

He pulled back, grabbing her hand before she could wipe her mouth in disgust. "That was not a good kiss, sunshine. I'm disappointed."

"Well maybe you should get yourself a real girlfriend instead," she hissed, "so you don't have to kidnap one every time you need a cuddle."

"We're going to do it again," he snarled at her. "With _enthusiasm _this time." And then, without further warning, he let go off her hands and grabbed her hair instead, before bending down again and roughly kissing her.

She stayed stock-still, unmoving- _let's see how he likes making out with a statue!_- until she felt the pressure on her hair, growing more and more insistent. She cried out in pain, but he only pulled harder.

JJ's scalp was stinging- it felt like hundreds of little needles pushing relentlessly at her skin- but she refused to give in. Demise started tugging- quick, sharp little pulls which brought tears to her eyes. And eventually, when she was sure he was going to pull all her hair out if she didn't comply, she gave up and leaned in towards him.

She could practically feel him smiling against her mouth, and fought the urge to throw up when he ran his tongue over her lip.

The pressure on her hair resumed as quickly as it had disappeared.

_What did he want?_

She tried to figure out what the hell he wanted her to do while the tugging restarted with full force. Finally, when she could take it no longer, she pressed herself up against him in desperation and ran her fingers through his hair, trying not to recoil when she felt his erection against her thigh.

Although still there, the pressure lessened, and, encouraged, JJ mimicked his actions- her tongue snaked into his mouth as she kissed him back full force, letting out a moan for good measure. She could tell he was pleased because he let go of her hair, although his hands started to roam over her back, squeezing her hips and once roughly groping her chest too.

At long last when he was satisfied, he let go of her completely and she collapsed against the wall, out of breath.

Demise, too, was panting. "See? You do- know how- to kiss!" He stroked her chin before turning to the camera. "Hey, you agents that she works with? Better get some as soon as you can. She's an excellent kisser, I'll bet she's a great fuck too."

"Are we done?" JJ snarled, folding her arms across her chest.

"For now. And just be glad you got to keep your clothes this time." He laughed to himself and started ambling aimlessly around the room, turning around and smiling at her every so often.

She studied him, taking note of the now the open, relaxed body language. Deciding it was safe to ask, she gestured to the tray. "What's that for, exactly?"

"I thought you might be hungry." He approached her again and set the tray down in front of her, pointing to each item one by one. "Water, cheese, and bread."

"How cliché," JJ murmured, picking up the block of cheese and sniffing it cautiously. "Very old-school prison of you."

He looked smug. "It is, isn't it? And don't worry your pretty little head- it's safe to eat. See?" He tore off a bite of bread and some cheese and chewed with exaggerated enthusiasm. "Not dead."

"Wasn't worried about the food," JJ replied, biting into the bread to prove her point. "You can't get yourself off if I'm not alive."

"Very true, sunshine. Well-observed."

He stared at her as she ate, an odd, gleeful expression on his face.

"What?" she finally asked in annoyance, being careful to keep her tone balanced- not too rough, or he'd slap her, but not too weak either, or he would feel like he was gaining control. The less control she gave him, the longer she lived. It was as simple as that and she knew it.

He was silent for a few seconds, but then he looked smug. "Alright, Agent Jareau, I have a question for you."

"What if I don't want to answer it?"

"Then we'll move on to… different activities," he replied calmly, a not-so-subtle threat. "I would love to get further with you then I did yesterday- or just now, for that matter…"

JJ licked her dry lips. "Um, okay… so what was the question?"

"What?"

"You had a question…" she prompted warily, watching his every move.

Demise went from cold and calculated to lively and cheerful in less than a second. He rubbed his hands together. "Oh yeah. Jenny, guess what I found out?"

She didn't answer, and stared at him stony-faced.

"Oh fine then. Be like that. I'll just tell you anyway." He sidled closer to her, and nudged her shoulder. "Jenny has a boyfriend!"

"Excuse me?" JJ stared at him. "No I don't."

"Then who's Reid?"

* * *

"Shit," Emily swore under her breath, her fingers automatically next to her mouth. "This is bad. This is _bad_."

"Why?" Garcia asked with trepidation.

"Now he knows how she feels about what happened in Georgia," Rossi explained quietly. "He doesn't even need to make her feel guilty for her sister's death. He already has this."

"But…" Reid glanced at Rossi, then at the screen, then back at Rossi, not wanting to accept it. "She can't- he wouldn't- there's nothing to feel guilty about!"

"We all go through it," Hotch reminded him. "We just don't have a highly-skilled unsub who can use it against us before we can work through it."

* * *

"You know who Reid is," JJ told him softly, unsure where he was going with this.

"I know he works with you," Demise countered. "I didn't know he was your fuck buddy."

He didn't seem mad, JJ noticed. She was uncertain if she should lie or correct him, and wished for the hundredth time that she was a profiler. "He's… not," she said after a pause. "He's a friend. That's all."

He scoffed. "Who screams and moans in their sleep when they dream about their _friends_?" he asked scornfully. "No, it's okay, I get it. You want him to be your little boyfriend but he's friend-zoningyou, isn't he?"

"No."

"No? And who's Morgan?" He raised an eyebrow suggestively. "A threesome, hmm? I wouldn't have believed you had it in you. What _do _you get up to in that workplace of yours…"

"I'm not sleeping with either of them…" JJ was starting to feel dread creeping into her- this was all so _fake _and _wrong _and _why _was she sitting here having chit-chat with an unsub? It didn't make any sense and her head hurt from all of it. "We're friends who- Wait, was I really…?" she trailed off as he nodded.

"Yep. Moaning just like you did when I touched you. But that's not all you said!" he finished in a sing-song voice.

"What did I say?" JJ asked quietly, fearing the answer.

Demise adopted a high-pitched, breathy voice, and waved his hands in the air. "Reid! Reid! I'm sorry, Reid! Don't die, Reid! I love you, Reid, my little boyfriend!"

"I don't think I said that last part," she ground out through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, well, it's called creative licence. And," he resumed the girly, squeaky voice, "No, Morgan! It's not my fault! I'm sorry, Reid! Save me, the doggies are getting me!"

"I'm pretty sure I didn't say _that_ either," she defended. "Well. Not in those words."

He ignored her, and dropped down on the floor across from her, putting his hands on his knees. "So what did you do that almost got your little boyfriend killed, and what did big boyfriend have to say about it?"

Again, he threw JJ for a loop. She had no idea what to say or what to do. And the profile- well, the damn profile wasn't helping much because his behaviour was like a fucking yo-yo.

"Hurry up, sunshine, I have to go soon," he ordered, eyes narrowing as he checked his watch.

She settled for the vague truth. "They're not my boyfriends, I already told you. And… there was a case. And he was taken by the unsub."

"Who? Big boyfriend?"

"No, Reid."

"Okay, and..?" Demise prompted.

"And we got him back. End of story."

"Oh no, sunshine, you're missing out big parts." He shifted so that he was sitting more comfortably, and leaned towards her, eyes bright. "What about the dogs? Where does Agent Morgan come in?"

JJ sighed, running a hand through her hair and wincing when her fingers brushed over tender areas. "We split up, me and Reid. He went around Hankel's- the unsub's- barn, and I went the other way. I was attacked by man-eating dogs which I shot. And Morgan…" She cast an anxious glance at the video camera in the room, unaware that the team already knew.

* * *

"She doesn't want to say it because we're here," Reid murmured. Morgan nodded, looking guilt-stricken.

"Is this good or bad? Should she be telling him or not?" Garcia demanded.

"It doesn't matter either way." Emily rubbed her arm. "He knows anyway. He's figured out most of it. He just wants to hear it from her."

"So is it good or bad if she's-"

"Good, I guess," Emily glanced back at the screen. "Saves her pain. He'd know if she was lying."

Hotch sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This isn't getting us anywhere. We need to stop crowding around the video and re-work this from scratch instead of waiting for a lead to show up. Garcia, Rossi, you two watch, but check financials and bank records again as well. Reid, Prentiss, re-do the geographical profile. Morgan and I will re-do the victimology."

* * *

"And big boyfriend?" Demise encouraged.

JJ bit her lip, looking once more at the camera before continuing. "And big boyfrien- I mean, Morgan, he just said some stuff that maybe in hindsight wasn't so nice. That's all."

"Big boyfriend blamed you?" he asked her, feigning curiosity.

"No…" JJ started hesitantly. "I mean, not straight-out. It was just kind of… implied, I guess?" She let out a humourless chuckle. "Although I pretty much begged him to blame me, so there's that, too."

"Why did you split up in the first place?" Demise proper himself up on his elbows. "Is little boyfriend a good shot? Or is he some big hot-shot profiler who can take down every unsub?"

"No," JJ said, picking at the frayed hem of her pants where he'd cut them. "He's younger than me. And he kind of can't really shoot very well."

"And that's why big boyfriend blamed you?"

"That's why he thought I was at fault, yeah."

He shook his head sadly, looking disappointed. "Well, you were."

JJ flushed slightly but met his eyes when she spoke. "I know."

"Oh, look at the time," Demise suddenly murmured softly before standing up and heading for the door. "Well, sunshine, I have to leave now, but I'll be back in forty-five minutes and we can have some more fun then." He bowed to her before slamming the door shut.

JJ started when the lock clicked open and he popped his head back in. "You can talk to your boyfriends if you want, by the way. There's nothing important you can tell them anyways."

* * *

Rossi smirked. "He knows he can't stop her unless he gags her, so he's giving her permission to make himself feel powerful."

"Shh!" Reid ordered. The rest of the team had re-gathered around the computer, having been alerted by Rossi. "She's coming to talk."

JJ approached the camera, doing the same as she'd done the day before: she picked it up and brought it into the light. Once again, she was out of their sight for a second before dropping into the shot.

She looked better than yesterday close-up, but they could see the embarrassment and confusion in her eyes.

"Hey, guys," she greeted slowly. "I don't really know what he's doing. I thought it would be easy, you know?" She laughed. "I mean, this is easier than what I was expecting, I guess. Easy to deal with. But I thought it would be easy to know what he was doing too- trying to get control and giving pain if he doesn't get it- and it's not. I don't- I can't tell what he's doing. And I know you guys probably profiled him hours ago and pegged down exactly what his plan is and I'm sorry I can't help… but I have no clue what he's doing."

She sighed, massaging her scalp and wincing. "I know he's doing something different, something bigger. Maybe because I'm FBI he wants to exert his power differently, more?"

"Yes!" Rossi crowed. "Keep on that line, honey, you've got it."

"She's still far from the reality though," Hotch said grimly.

"She's worked with profilers for a few years now," Emily said hopefully. "She's thinking along the right point. As long as she just develops that, she'll get it."

JJ was continuing. "Anyway. That's all I can tell you." She stood up and lifted the camera, but then the picture stopped shaking and they figured she must have set it down again. Sure enough, her face appeared on the screen again, her voice more hesitant this time. "Um, Reid, Morgan? I'm sorry for that- I didn't mean to drag you both into this. So… uh, yeah. Bye."

* * *

**A/N:**

**I have a lot of time now and I will be alternating updates between this and my other in-progress fic. This means updates for either fic will be every 1-3 days. **

**I know you want to see the 'action' but I can't just rush past the development. I tried, and the chapter turned out crap. I literally wrote 5,000 words and at the end JJ gets saved yay THE END. To put that into perspective, this chapter is 3,100 words. So apparently I either write really slow or really rushed. I'm going with slow for now because as twisted as he is, Demise is one of those characters who is so incredibly fun to write, and what makes it better is that everything I write is in-character because he's mine. I hope you're still enjoying this =D**


End file.
